


The Buried Voice

by Mable



Series: The Buried Voice Trilogy [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Charlie searches for answers, Disturbing Themes, Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator | Five Nights at Freddy's 6, Friendship, Investigating Freddy's, Nightmares, Overcoming past trauma, Searching for Sammy, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 91,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24855238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mable/pseuds/Mable
Summary: After getting a letter from her father who passed away years ago, Charlie returns to her hometown to face her past. Instead of finding closure, she finds herself seeking answers and tries to piece together the mystery of what happened to her missing twin brother. What she doesn't realize is that her father's letter may have been a warning of what's to come...
Series: The Buried Voice Trilogy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1990075
Comments: 10
Kudos: 103





	1. Reunion

_To my dear daughter, Charlotte._

_I know you have so many questions and believe me when I say that I would explain everything if I could, but there's too much that you must never know. Too many lives have been ruined by the choices I made._

_All I wanted was to bring happiness to children and bring families closer together. I never wanted it to turn out like this, but I've finally found the way to fix my mistakes. I know this letter will only reopen old wounds, but there were things left unsaid, and I hope this can bring you some amount of closure._

_I have always loved you and I regret that I won't be able to see you grow up into the strong woman I know you will become. I can't be there to walk you down the aisle, to watch your children grow, to see you live your life, and I am sorry for that. I only ask that you move on from the past. Go start afresh somewhere new, without the memories of your brother and I weighing you down. Know that we are in a better place._

_I love you, Charlie._

And that was it. That was all that was in the letter. Charlie had read it over a dozen times since she had gotten it days before and she still felt like it was unfinished. Like if she read it again something would jump out for her, because it simply didn't make sense how she could get a letter from her father who had been dead for years.

They never found the body, but the copious amounts of blood found in his workshop had suggested that something terrible had happened. It had been enough to pronounce him dead and shatter their family forever. The case still sat open, unknown whether it was an accident or a homicide, and leaving her without any answers or reason.

Nobody had ever mentioned her father leaving a note behind, and it seemed unlikely that her aunt or mother would've sent it without warning or a return address. The letter didn't look old but looks could've been deceiving. She couldn't even tell if it was really his handwriting since he hadn't seen it in so long. Too elaborate to be a prank, too outlandish to truly be him.

It didn't give her any closure. Far from it. It had suddenly dragged her thoughts from her college work and back to the town of Hurricane. Within minutes after she had read it, she had called one of her remaining friends in Hurricane, one of the only ones she still talked to who still lived there, Marla. She stressed her interest in coming to visit. Marla promptly threw together a makeshift reunion in only a matter of days.

So, that's where Charlie was. In sharp contrast to the letter's suggestion, she had driven back into Hurricane and was now parked across the street from Marla's parents' home. She hadn't even visited the old house yet, just drove straight into town and right here to this spot. There were plenty of cars in the driveway signaling that there had been quite the turnout and she almost felt nervous.

But on the other hand, she didn't feel like she could turn back now. She had been the catalyst to bring them together so she obligated to make the effort. Though she supposed she wasn't the only driving force, looking down at the letter again. Wondering who, if not her father, would've had the means to write or send this letter.

With a sigh, she shoved the letter into her glovebox and got out of her car to meet the others. The anxiety started to grow as she jogged across the street and she pulled her jacket tighter around her shoulders.

" _Keep it together, Charlie. They're just old friends, they're not expecting anything crazy,"_ Charlie tried to assure herself. They probably knew she was in college and assumed she was just visiting town to see the old house, which was her story and wasn't a lie. Though mentioning the letter directly might raise red flags with her family's sordid past. _"…Act as sane as I can. Noted."_ She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"I bet that's her!" she heard through the door and realized that they were all waiting for her. Before she could begin to second guess it, the door swung open to reveal a familiar face. Marla stood shorter than Charlie by a few inches with short, dark brown hair and a curly physique. Charlie had seen pictures of her relatively recently from letters she received in the mail. Though they hadn't visited each other, they had stayed in contact off and on for years, so it wasn't like seeing a stranger. Not like seeing the others would be.

Marla's face broke into a wide smile. "Charlie!" she greeted excitedly and pulled her into a tight hug. "We were just wondering when you were going to get here. Come on in, the gang's all here! Except John but he's on his way." She ushered the girl in and shut the door behind her.

Even though it had been years, Charlie recognized everyone right off the bat. It wasn't too hard to match the hair color and the facial features, even though they weren't the children they once were. All three of them sat on the couch together. On the far left was Lamar, a dark-skinned young man with short cut hair and a warm smile. Beside him was another young man, this one with red hair that stuck out like a sore thumb, definitely Carlton. Finally, on the far right was a nicely dressed, pretty blonde woman, clearly Jessica.

Charlie could remember vague memories of playing with all of them, but Jessica was the one she remembered most. Within their group of friends she and Jessica had been especially close and she played with her the most out of anyone else… Other than her brother.

Charlie blocked out that thought quickly and tried to keep from fumbling her introduction. "Hey guys. It's been a while," she said with a wave.

She received a chorus of greetings, including Jessica coming over to greet her with a welcoming hug. It had been a while since they had last spoken so the action almost surprised Charlie. But not quite, not when Jessica used to be so close. Charlie hugged back.

"It's been way too long," Jessica said. She drew back with a warm smile and curiosity in her eyes, "How have you been?"

"I've been doing good. You know, going to college, doing classes. Nothing too spectacular," Charlie said. She smiled back. "You look amazing."

"You know how I am. Always have to dress to impress," Jessica joked. Though she was probably serious and though Charlie technically didn't know how she was. The last concrete thing she had known about Jessica was that she wanted to be a princess super spy- she assumed her dream job had changed by now. The blond brought her to the couch to sit, with Carlton moving into the armchair to give them room. "We were worried you weren't coming, considering how last minute this was."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. Besides, St. George isn't that far of a drive from here. How about you? I thought you were still living in New York."

"Oh, I am! Mom let me use some of her leftover frequent flyer miles and I caught the red eye here last night. To be honest, I was looking for a reason to get out of the city. School's just been exhausting," Jessica explained. She turned back to Carlton and Lamar. "But they still live here."

"Yeah, I'm kind of stuck here," Carlton admitted with an unenthused look. "I kept telling myself 'just a few more years and then I'll be on the next plane to Anywhere Else'… I've been telling myself that since I was fifteen. I'm guessing one of these years it's actually going to happen."

"Outlook hazy, try again later," Marla teasingly chimed in as she refilled a bowl of tortilla chips on the coffee table.

"Trust me, it will happen. My parents would love me to stick around and find a job here, but there's just some fields you can't get into in a small town like this," Carlton vented. He returned to a better mood as he changed topics, "What about you, Charlie? What's your major?"

That was a loaded question and she rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably. "Well, actually… I've been studying robotics. I know that probably seems strange with all-."

As fate would have it, this was when there was another knock at the door, sparing her the discomfort of explaining how she got into the family field of work. Marla hurried to the door and opened it to reveal the final member of their small group, which would be John. Charlie was almost surprised at how different he looked to the little boy who used to play hide and go seek in the park with them. Now he was tall with dark hair and an athletic build.

"Finally! We were starting to worry you got lost," Marla said with a teasing smile. She shut the door behind him as he walked into the living room with his hand in his pockets and a smile on his face.

Charlie might've imagined it, but she swore that he looked at her for a split second. For a moment that smile seemed to falter and his eyes slightly widened, as though he was just as surprised as seeing how much she changed as she had been with him. She went to her default and gave a small wave as Lamar gave him a more proper greeting.

"You made it just in time. Marla just refilled the chips," he said. They exchanged a more familiar look, as though they knew each other better. They had probably stayed in touch. "What was the hold up?"

"No hold up, just wanted to make sure I got in fashionably late," John said as he sat down on the untouched loveseat by the window. It was further away that the armchair and couch had been, but it was either that or pulling up a dining room chair like Marla did shortly afterwards. He seemed content to keep his distance, but his eyes were back on Charlie. "Hey Charlie."

"Hey," Charlie replied. She didn't have a chance to add on before Carlton suddenly interrupted the exchange.

"You said you were doing robotics?" he asked and she nodded. He pointed a thumb back in a vague direction, "Did you hear about Freddy's reopening?"

The reaction was immediate. Marla sent Carlton a sharp stare, Lamar clasped a hand over his face, and Jessica subtly pursed her lips, trying to hide exasperation. Apparently they had already established some sort of agreement to either not talk about Freddy's, or the past, or both. From Carlton's look of dread he must've accidentally slipped up.

But Charlie was much more interested in this information. She blinked in surprise and asked, "Wait, _Freddy's_ reopened? In town?"

"Yeah…" Marla drew out awkwardly. "It opened only a couple of days ago. I thought maybe you heard about it?" She had thought that was why Charlie had been calling and suggesting visiting, but the woman's look of shock disproved this. "So… Wait, you didn't know about it? I thought since you were… They can't just open a restaurant without getting permission, right?"

"That depends on who owns the rights to Freddy's, and considering it's a franchise they probably have a couple of people who signed off on it," John offered. He sounded disturbed so he must've not known either. "Why they would open a place like that in this town is beyond me. They're not going to make money off of it."

"I've driven by there once. It's pretty small and it didn't look like there were a lot of people inside… Kind of hard to tell though. The place pretty much has no windows," Lamar said.

"Let's not talk about this," Jessica said. She glanced at Charlie out the corner of her eye, which went unnoticed. "This is the first time we've all been together in years, let's not waste that bringing up bad memories."

Charlie could tell she was being cautious because of her though. She knew she could let it drop, but this reveal so close after the arrival of the letter made her more curious. That desire to know began to flare again.

"No, Jess, it's okay. Its been years, I can handle talking about Freddy's for a few minutes," Charlie said. Jessica looked to her in assurance and her friend gave her a smile, then looked past to Lamar. "Do you know when it opened? Or who opened it?"

"I think it opened a week ago? I don't know, it seemed like construction on the building went up really fast. I wouldn't be shocked if the place opened the day after they got the doors on," Lamar admitted. "About who owns it… I don't know. Carlton?"

"What?" Carlton arched a brow.

"Your dad was wrapped up in the case on Freddy's, right? Did he say who was opening it up?"

"You know, you're onto something asking me about this since I've got connections," Carlton complimented. "…And if it was anyone other than my dad who we were talking about I'd probably have some clue. But this is my dad, so you would know automatically that he wouldn't tell me anything."

"I thought maybe he'd say something. You don't investigate… Something like _that_ and then just shrug off when Freddy's come back," Lamar defended.

"This is the man who keeps his office in the basement and locks it when he's out. I'd have an easier time walking into Freddy's and asking straight up, 'Hey, who owns this place? Cause you know, it's got a really sketchy past'."

"…We could." Charlie spoke before she thought and they all looked to her immediately. Only a few minutes after meeting friends she hadn't seen in years and somehow she had already managed this kind of reaction. She tried to do damage control. "Go over there, I mean. Check it out and ask if it's privately owned or not. There's not really a reason for them to lie, right?"

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Jessica cautiously asked. "I mean, after everything that happened there… Do you really want to go back? I don't want you pushing yourself to go into that place if it's going to make you uncomfortable." There were so many words she wasn't saying. Charlie both appreciated her concern and was embarrassed by it. "We could probably just look it up online."

"I guess so," Charlie agreed. She didn't really want to see Freddy's, she felt like she had to, but she was unwilling to argue for it. She could always just go alone after the reunion.

Maybe John noticed her torn look as he spoke up from the loveseat. "Why don't we go check it out? It'll be just like old times," he said as he stood. "Except now we're all going to stick out like a sore thumb because we're too old for singing bears."

"But not for pizza. Alright, I'm in," Lamar agreed. He stood, then Marla, then Carlton shrugged and stood. When Charlie stood, Jessica followed along and it was silently and mutually agreed that they would go see this pizzeria for themselves. This wasn't what Charlie was expecting, but she was relieved that she wasn't going alone. They left the house, Marla locking up, and dispersed into the various vehicles.

Charlie had climbed into her car and was putting on her seatbelt when she heard a knock on her passenger window. She looked up to see Jessica standing there and rolled down the window.

"Mind if I ride with you? My car's blocked in," she asked with a smile. Charlie perked up and eagerly let her in. She got into the passenger's seat and they waited for John to move his car for Lamar to back out, since he would be having to lead them. After a few moments, she spoke up, "I noticed they were building a strip mall while I was driving here."

"Actually, they're rebuilding it. There was a tornado last year that tore off the roof and they had to rebuild the entire left side." Jessica got a look of horror, much to Charlie's amusement. "You've been gone too long. You forgot about the category four tornados that blow through every summer."

"Yes, I did. Wow." Jessica looked out the window as Lamar finally started to pull out. Charlie let John go before following their cars. It looked like Carlton and Marla had gotten a ride with Lamar. The blond watched them for a silent moment, tapping her fingernails on the door, before she finally caved and spoke. "I'm sorry to bug you about this again, but you're totally sure you want to do this?"

"…To be honest, I need to do this. I feel like I have to get this out of my system. Like I'm going to have it looming over my head until I do," Charlie admitted. "Besides, it's going to be easier seeing the inside of Freddy's than seeing the old house."

"You're going to visit your old house too?"

"That's where I'm going to be staying while I'm in town, hopefully. It'll be cheaper the staying in a hotel."

"Think you're going to need some help cleaning it up?" Jessica offered with a smile. Charlie quirked a brow with a slightly amused glint. The blond beat her to the punch. "I'm not as much of a priss as I used to be. I might look good, but I'm not obsessive about it." Charlie gave a small laugh and turned her focus back on the road.

She still hadn't anticipated the shiver that would run through her as they pulled into Freddy's parking lot.

The pizzeria was located in an undeveloped area right outside the city. From the cleared-out land it seemed like eventually there would be more businesses placed there, but this was the first one. Unlike the Freddy's that Charlie had known about over the years- occasionally looking up but never daring to drive to- it was much smaller. Maybe the size of the original diner. As Lamar had said, there were only two windows in the front and because of an entrance section it was impossible to see through them and into the dining room.

The Freddy Fazbear's Pizza sign was brand new and loomed overhead as Charlie pulled up underneath. The smiling bear didn't bring a feeling of nostalgia, just a slight foreboding sensation.

The group walked in together with Marla leading the way. The song of stock music played over the entranceway as they stepped through into the dining room. It was even smaller on the inside, with only about eight tables lined up and topped with purple, star dotted tablecloths and party hats. The floor was cleanly tiled and was covered in confetti and lost tickets.

Though regardless of this small size there were quite a few attractions and games crammed into the tight space. Between the multiple flashing lights, music, sound, and children yelling it was almost disorienting just being in there. A full silence had fallen over the group though, largely in reaction to how overwhelming it all is.

"…Should we get a table or something?" Marla asked back to the others. Only a few of the tables were occupied so this seemed like a good idea. At least to get them out of the way of running children. The others agreed and she quickly claimed a table nearby. It almost looked casual if their group didn't stand out so much.

From where Charlie was sitting she could see the large stage in the back of the room and immediately recognized the animatronics mounted on it. Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy were all lined up. Though they weren't the versions she remembered them to be. All of them had been updated with new redesigns that looked more colorful and kid friendly. Foxy now had a parrot, Freddy had a big star on his chest.

No less than thirty seconds after they had sat down- almost immediately after Lamar asked, "We're still getting a pizza, right?"- a Freddy's employee walked up to the table, drawing Charlie's focus away from the animatronics. The man had dark hair and wore a purple and yellow uniform and the most unenthusiastic look on his face.

"Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza," he began. He looked up from his waiter pad, scanned over the group, and then added, "Aren't you guys a little too old for Freddy's?"

But before anyone could even start an excuse, Marla was on it with, "We used to go to the old Freddy's when we were kids, so we decided to stop by and see what it looked like now." She flashed him a smile.

He started at her for a moment before giving a blank, "Why?" That smile dropped instantly into her own tepid look. "Okay, never mind. What are you having?... You _are_ at least ordering, right?"

"Yes, hold on a second," Lamar began then turned to the others. "Nobody's gotten any severe allergies in the last few years, right?" Of course, nobody had. "We'll have a large pepperoni." The employee hummed and scribbled the order down on the slip of paper. Seeing her chance, Jessica spoke up.

"Freddy's has been closed so long; we were shocked to hear it reopened. Do you know whose running the business now or who reopened it?" she asked bluntly.

"Fazbear Entertainment," the server answered.

"No, I get that. I meant who is running Fazbear Entertainment now? Do you know?" she pressed further.

"Some soulless corporate conglomerate that doesn't pay me enough," he said. Jessica couldn't even tell if he hadn't taken the bait or was completely oblivious to it. "Anything to drink with that?"

At this point it became apparent that they wouldn't be getting answers so Charlie started to drift off into her thoughts again. She looked back towards the performers and noticed someone walking past the stage. If not for how oddly they were dressed she might've not noticed them at all. A simple brown suit with a purple tie, as though trying to match the employees' attired, with black shoes and gloves.

The gloves too may have been overdoing it, but she was more drawn to the fact that he was wearing a yellow colored Freddy Fazbear head. From the size of it, it was clear that it had been made to be worn by a human worker and wasn't just a hollowed out animatronic head. It was just so strange that someone who was dressed like a manager would be walking around in a suit head, especially since he was the only one.

He paused by the end of the stage to look at something on Chica and then, seemingly unconcerned with whatever he spotted, he disappeared through a thick door beside the stage. It was very strange.

"I can't believe they fit a prize corner in here," Jessica said, pulling Charlie back out of her thoughts. "I wonder if they still have those Freddy Teddys. Anyone else remember those? You squeeze their bellies and they'd talk."

"I had one of those! But mine must've gotten something in it. It started making these crackling noises and after it started smelling like burning plastic Mom 'took it to the toy doctor"," Marla said, emphasizing with air quotes. "Until this day she still swears she doesn't remember what happened to it. I'm guessing she just threw it out."

"Yeah. My mom got rid of any Freddy junk in the house after it closed down. I think all I had was a Bonnie nightlight and a toothbrush," Carlton added. He shrugged and admitted, "I wasn't really attached to them so I didn't care. I just thought it was weird that we weren't going back to Freddy's to play anymore."

"Yeah, same. Didn't help that Freddy Teddy got a little demonic towards the end there," Marla agreed. It was then that Charlie stood up from the table.

"I'm going to go get a closer look at the animatronics. Anyone want to come with me?" she offered. Jessica was prepared to agree and was surprised when she was beaten to it by John.

"I'll come," he said as he stood from the table and followed with her. Jessica quirked her brow at his eagerness when he seemed like the last person to be interested in Freddy's. Unless it wasn't Freddy's he was interested in. She sent a glance between the two and smiled to herself, deciding to stay put and let them go on their own.

Foxy was in the middle of singing a sea shanty when Charlie and John walked up to the large stage so he was the only one actively moving. Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie were all poised as though they were listening, instead waiting for their cue to begin again. Seeing them up close was jarring considering how long it had been. Charlie could see the changed details better from here. She was glad they changed Bonnie's coloring.

"I've got to admit, they look a lot better than I remember. Usually it's the other way around," John said to try and make conversation. She expected it to be uncomfortable but looking at him- looking up at the stage with vague interest and unlike the others showing much less overprotectiveness- he seemed as calm as could be. It encouraged her to continue the train of thought.

"I'm guessing these are probably brand new. With how long they've been closed, I wouldn't be surprised if the ones at the diner were thrown away years ago," Charlie said. "Do you remember them at all?"

"Freddy and Bonnie? Yeah but not well. I think they were bigger than these ones. I don't know, maybe that's just because I remember them from when I was a kid."

"No, you're right, and there's a reason for that. The animatronics at Freddy's aren't like the ones you'll usually see at a theme park or another restaurant. Normally those are controlled by a series of air hoses that cause them to move. Their bodies are lighter and they're a lot thinner than they look with their suit on. The ones at Freddy's though are built more like robots, if robots actually existed," Charlie explained. She realized she was rambling and gave an apologetic smile. "And that's our lesson for today. I expect a two-hundred word essay on my desk by Monday."

John's mouth twitched up into an amused smile. "I guess I'm lucky I have an expert to teach me the tricks of the trade," he said. She felt a soft flutter at the compliment and, spurred on, planned to say more-.

But she was beaten to it by the sea shanty suddenly ending and instantly switching to a new music and voice track. Now Freddy sprung to life once again and both Charlie and John looked up at it.

" _Hellllooo, everybody! You ready to have a good time? I know I am!"_ Freddy's voice called enthusiastically through the speakers around the pizzeria. On stage the animatronic mimicked the movements of talking, with his mouth movements almost syncing exactly to the voice even though it clearly wasn't coming from him. It wasn't the voice Charlie remembered, which made sense since she thought it had been her father doing the voice. Freddy cocked his head and lifted his microphone to his mouth as he began to sing. _"Cause it's…~"_

" _Freddy Fazbear's Pizza!~"_ the other voices joined in with his and the others began to move and 'dance'. _"For kids it's number one! Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! Where fantasy meets fun!~"_

Any sense of wonder was dashed when an automated sounding voice spoke up specifically from the stage speakers, sounding like it was added to the song after the fact. _"Please do not touch Freddy Fazbear and friends and stay three feet away from the stage at all times."_

"You don't have to tell me twice," John said.

Charlie snickered a little and looked towards him. It was at that moment that she looked past him and realized that there was a second stage. It was smaller than the main stage with its curtains drawn closed. Her smile faltered and was replaced by a curious look. It looked like the gang was all here, so what was on that stage?

"Hold on. I'll be right back… I want to check something out," Charlie said before heading over. John seemed unconcerned and instead continued watching the animatronics, now with an unsettled frown on his face.

As Charlie got closer she realized that the curtain was open a few inches and looked inside. She was just able to make out what stood behind it, and it was nothing short of confounding.

There was a second Freddy on the stage. Except this one was all black in color, with rosy cheeks and a single yellow eye. The other eye looked blackened out but she couldn't see well enough if it had fallen out or was broken, just knowing that it didn't look right. The entire bear didn't seem right. While almost identical to Freddy's build, there was something depressing about this recolor. Just looking at it was depressing.

Until its single eye moved and suddenly stared back at her. At that second ice pierced through her heart. A cold chill of fear washed through her, like she knew something was terribly wrong with this animatronic. It was unbearable and she quickly turned and retreated to John's side, unable to continue standing there underneath it.

"That's… Really weird," she admitted. John looked to her with a raised brow.

"What?"

"There's a second Freddy on that stage over there. It's just colored black instead of brown," Charlie said. She pulled her jacket closed and glanced back towards the curtain. "…I think it might've looked at me."

John didn't seem too concerned and shrugged. "It probably has built in sensors to look in the direction of people when they get close. Maybe that's why they have those stools around the stage."

Really it was a reasonable guess and Charlie couldn't argue with it. Still, something about the bear made her uneasy. Unlike the other animatronics, whose eyes passed over her but never focused in, it almost felt like the black bear had looked directly at her. Almost like it was conscious enough to see her.

John noticed her silence. "Want to go back to the table?" he asked.

"Sound's good," Charlie agreed. She decided not to voice her suspicions, nor mention any of the eccentricities of the pizzeria to him or the others. She couldn't be sure if what she was seeing was real or if her memories of the diner were twisting her perception of this restaurant. For the moment, she would just let it go.

She swore she felt the yellow eye follow her back to the table. The feeling of being watched didn't go away until they left the pizzeria.


	2. Homecoming

Charlie didn't realize how thankful she was going to be that Jessica was coming to the house with her. At first she was just going along with it because she wanted to catch up more, but when she saw the abandoned abode she was a struck by a painful feeling. It was a mix between longing and nostalgia as she was forced to face the reality of what her childhood home had become. The image of its faded paint and overgrown yard quickly covered the image she had remembered from her childhood.

But she made sure not to show this to Jessica. She steadied herself as she parked outside and got out of the car. Jessica got out too and looked at the house with a mix of curiosity and somberness. Charlie doubted that she remembered the house from her own childhood, but it didn't take much imagination to piece together what it might have looked like when it was at its prime, kept with care and filled with a family.

Charlie's aunt hadn't been too keen on the idea of her staying at the house when she stopped by for the key. Jessica had waited in the car and Charlie popped in without calling beforehand, hoping to get in and out without having to explain too much. As much as she loved her aunt, she knew better than bring up the past. The excuse wasn't entirely a lie- she just wanted to see the house again- and it worked well enough.

The front door creaked open and revealed an emptied living room. Charlie could remember that the living room furniture had been given away years ago. Save the armchair that her father frequently used, which was now located in her aunt's house. She only hoped that some of the other furniture in the house was left she remembered it. She took a deep breath and stepped inside.

"Wow…" Jessica said quietly. "You haven't been here at all since you moved out?"

"No. Aunt Jen didn't like coming back here. I don't even think she came back when she was trying to sell it, and when it didn't sell she gave up and left it like this," Charlie explained. She ventured further into the house and looked around at it. She still remembered the layout even after all these years.

"I guess it must've been too hard for her," Jessica sympathized. She looked around somberly before remembering back to what she heard of the conversation with Jen from the car. She had gotten the clear impression that the woman didn't know Charlie had been coming into town. "Hey… Did you tell your mom you were coming back?" Jessica asked curiously.

She wouldn't have been surprised if Charlie got a look of guilt and wouldn't blame her if she hadn't told her mother. What she wasn't expecting was the briefly taken-aback look Charlie got, recovered from, and then the strained smile that followed it.

"I haven't really talked to my mom in a while," Charlie admitted. Jessica looked surprised and then curious, and that was enough to get Charlie to open up further. "After my father passed away, my mom and I went to stay with Aunt Jen for a couple of days… But then, out of the blue one night, she just… Left… And I haven't heard from her since."

"What?! She just left, just like that?! Did she ever call or…?!"

"I don't know if she's talked to Jen since she left, but I know she's never tried to contact me. I should've expected it though. After Sammy went missing Mom was barely around. She never said it but I think looking at me reminded her of my brother," Charlie admitted. She then noticed that Jessica was starting to get that worried look again. Charlie was quick to assure with a smile, "It's no big deal, trust me. Jen took good care of me and I grew up fine. The only reason it's even a touchy subject is because of how sudden it was."

Hoping to find a distraction, she turned away and looked around until her gaze landed in the kitchen. "Oh, hey! The fridge is still here! I hope it still works, I don't think I can afford take out every night." Jessica accepted that she wanted to change the subject and let it drop without another word.

Perhaps due to Aunt Jen's efforts to sell the house but both the electricity and the water were turned on in the house. Though that didn't mean it was in completely livable condition. There was dust and cobwebs everywhere, especially clogging up the sink. The cabinets were mostly cleaned out except one that had a small stack of plates left behind. Unfortunately, the only thing left of the silverware was a lone butter knife.

The bathroom was in a worse state. Dirt had settled and dried into the bottom of the tub and sink, though worse in the bathtub. The toilet water was foggy, though unused, and a few dead gnats floated in it. The cabinets in there were also cleaned out. There was no toilet paper, no toiletries, and much to Charlie's dismay, no hot water. She made a mental note to find out how to turn on the water heater.

While on the way to Charlie's room they passed over an out-of-place rug. While she didn't remember the rug she knew what was being hidden underneath it. She tried to ignore it and continued on. Jessica, however, noticed its crookedness and leaned down to move it. As soon as the other woman noticed, she called out.

"Wait," Charlie blurted out. Jessica stopped and the brunette cleared her throat. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. If I remember right, there's a nasty stain underneath it… And I wouldn't be surprised if its gone moldy over the years." This excuse worked as Jessica wrinkled her nose in disgust and dropped the rug on the spot. Charlie gave an amused smile and added, "Come on, let's go see what's left of my old room."

Ironically enough, Charlie's bedroom was the least unchanged of all the rooms. Most of the furniture and toys had been left behind, sat in the same places she remembered or expected them to be. Her bed was even still there and made up, though dust had settled on it too.

"It's just like I left it… After seeing the rest of the house, I was sure it was just going to be empty." she said as she looked around in surprise. She took a deep breath of the stagnant air. "It's… A little overwhelming, honestly. It brings back a lot of memories."

"But look, your bed's still here," Jessica said. She patted the pillow with an encouraging smile. "It's a little small, but if you can make it work until…" She trailed off as she slowly lifted her hand back up and looked at her palm with a grimace. She quickly dusted her hands off. "O-kay, so it's going to need a deep cleaning before it's safe to sleep in. Still, it can work." Charlie laughed and it felt good to do so.

"Pitching a tent in the backyard is slowly sounding like a better idea," Charlie joked. She looked down at the floor and her face brightened further as she noticed a familiar rabbit plush. It had been one of her favorites years ago only to get lost in the chaos of leaving home. She had never thought she would see it again. "So, this is where you've been," Charlie murmured. She picked it up, studied its old, lopsided features, and then showed it to Jessica. "This is Theodore. He used to be my constant companion back when I was little."

"Aww. He's cute," Jessica said. She looked around before pointing at the closet doors. "Three closets? Does a kid need that much closet space?"

"Apparently I did," Charlie joked. Though then she explained, "Really they're not actually closets… I mean, they _are_ closets, but I only used the middle one for clothes. The small one has a doll in it and the large one was where my parents kept my brother's things."

"Yikes."

"You're telling me. I didn't open that closet much." Charlie trailed off again as she stared at those closets, then down at the rabbit doll in her hand. She knew she was edging onto a dangerous train of thought and wasn't certain if she was ready to open all of these doors that had been closed for so long. Almost like she was waiting for the rush of crippling emotions to collapse on her. Thankfully, they didn't.

But she had to get out of this room and they had the perfect reason to do so. "Maybe we should go get the cleaning supplies and groceries now. It's starting to look like this might take a couple of days of work before it's back in living condition," Charlie suggested as she set Theodore back down on the bed.

"Sounds good to me. I'm not touching either of the sinks without heavy duty gloves," Jessica agreed. She led the way back out of the house and it was only once they returned that the work really began.

As predicted, it had taken hours to get the house in some semblance of order. Together they managed to clean out the fridge and stock it with enough food to last at least a week, cleaned the sink, the plates, and replaced the silverware with some plastic forks and spoons for a temporary solution. The bathroom was next, managing to get the toilet and sink done before spraying cleaner in the tub and letting it sit. Finally, they bundled up the bedding into a garbage back and toted it to the nearby laundry mat.

All the while Charlie and Jessica talked. Not about Hurricane or Freddy's, but just about things. People in their lives, places they wanted to go, goals they wanted to achieve. Hours of work and talking, and by the end of it Charlie felt like she had met Jessica all over again. She wasn't just a girl she used to play with at the playground, she was another person with feelings and thoughts, and by some luck they still clicked. It was the first time in ages where she felt like she was bonding with someone after being so fixated on her studies.

By time the laundry was done it was already growing late, and the two decided to get dinner at a cheap diner close to the laundry mat. It was there that Charlie decided to take the plunge and tell Jessica why she was really back in Hurricane. She brought the letter inside in her jacket and waited until they were already served before taking it out.

"A few days ago I got this letter in the mail," Charlie simply said as she handed it over. Jessica took it curiously, pulled it from its envelope, and opened it to read what was inside. After a few seconds, her eyes widened and she looked up at Charlie.

"This is from _your father_?" Jessica asked in disbelief. The brunette nodded. "I don't understand. Did it come like this?" She had also noticed the lack of a return address.

"Just like that. All of a sudden I found it in the mail… And I think it might be his handwriting. I'll have to double check later to make sure."

"And you don't think someone could've sent this to you just to mess with you?" Jessica asked. She then frowned as she looked over the words again. "Though if this is a joke, it's a pretty sick one."

"It could be, but I don't know who. Nobody at my college- nobody that I know of- knows about my father and his connection to Freddy's. I couldn't imagine it being any of the guys or my aunt, or really even just some random person who somehow looked me up. It really does look like something he would've written…" Charlie's face fell and her brows furrowed. "Maybe."

"Maybe," Jessica agreed. Though hers was much less certain and she frowned with concern before handing the letter back. "Just… Be careful, okay? Maybe this really is from your father and someone's been holding onto it for all these years. It looks new but if its been sealed up in an evidence locker for all these years then it could've been preserved well. Or maybe it's someone pretending to be your father to try and get something out of you. You'll know if you get a second letter and they start asking for more."

"I suppose that could be. Someone playing on the fact that Dad's body was never found to try and toy with me…" Charlie knew this was a possibility. After seeing the state of the house she knew nobody had been actively living there and she doubted her aunt would hide that there was a chance he was still alive. "I'll be careful. It's enough to bring me here but it's not enough to let me put my guard down."

"Or open your wallet. Speaking of which, let me get this," Jessica offered, getting out her purse to pay. She still didn't seem entirely comfortable and slowly stopped halfway through, looking up at Charlie again. "Why don't you get a room at the motel for the night? It's not perfect but it has a double lock."

"Don't worry about me, Jess. The house is old but the locks still work, and you know I'm not going to let strangers inside in the middle of the night no matter what they say," Charlie declined. She tucked the letter back into her jacket pocket and that was the end of it for the moment. After they left she dropped Jessica off at the hotel.

Charlie had to return home alone.

The house had a much more somber look at dark. Something cold and depressing hung over the house, regardless of the lights now left on inside. The shreds of curiosity and discovery she felt earlier exploring this once familiar place were long gone. Keeping herself busy, she remade her bed and tried not to think too deeply about anything. Once it was over she was left with her thoughts again.

She really didn't want to throw herself back into schoolwork so soon, as she doubted she would able to retain information while here. There wasn't a television or computer in the house either.

Except it was then that Charlie realized that they technically hadn't checked every room in the house. She purposefully avoided the master bedroom, her father's workshop, and the office, having saved them for last but then deciding to switch gears and focus on cleaning. There was a very slim chance that Henry's computer was still here and still had internet, and if it did then she would be able to make her own distraction.

The master bedroom was first and it was both a disappointment and a relief when she found it empty. Other than the bed, stripped to its mattress, everything else had been taken from the room except for some clothes left in the closet. Charlie thumbed through the hung-up shirts slowly and tried to imagine her father wearing them. Then left them to go seek out Henry's office.

Her father's office was in a similar state to her room. Though she seldom saw it in the past, the majority of the furniture looked to be there; the desk, the chair, the bookshelf, and a file cabinet tucked to the side. Charlie curiously took in her surroundings and tried to take in what information she could. She approached the desk and looked at the things Henry had left behind.

There was a book setting to the side with a layer of dust collecting on it and a bookmark sticking out. A quickly look at the cover revealed it as 'Autobiography of a Yogi'. Charlie had never heard of the book and she opened it to the mark page only to become lost. Nothing was marked or stood out to her. Shrugging it off, she set the book aside and continued to look.

The next object she looked at was a photo album with the words 'Precious Memories' printed on the emerald and gold colored cover. It was an expensive looking book, save the dust, and someone had attached a numbered padlock to it to make sure nobody else uninvited could look inside. This only spurred Charlie on further. Tried her father and mothers' birthdays, nothing. Tried her and her brother's birthday, success.

Charlie got as far as opening the photo album and seeing half of a portrait of her family before she stopped. She stayed paused like that, holding the cover precariously there, and reconsidered whether she really wanted to see that picture. Solemnly, she decided that she wasn't ready, and simply shut the photo album again and left it be. _"I'm not ready for that."_

There was an old Freddy bobblehead on the corner of the desk. It still bobbled properly when she poked it while moving to the other side of the desk. She sat down before going through the desk and, much to her chagrin, she found many of the drawers empty. All except for one. The bottom right drawer was filled with newspaper pieces, a small stack of folders, and old cassette tapes shoved to the back of it.

What stood out the most was the folder on the top of the stack which had the name "Sammy" printed in black sharpie in the top left corner. Charlie took it out and vaguely noticed that it wasn't nearly as dusty as everything else in the house. She could only guess that this was because it had been shoved in a drawer for the last decade.

If she thought the photo album was going to be the hardest thing to look at, she was in for a rude awakening. Shoved in the pockets in the left side of the folder were multiple newspaper clips reporting on the disappearance of Sammy. Charlie hadn't seen any of these but she knew what they were going to say. Young boy disappears at a party and is never found again, parents are distraught, no witnesses.

…Except for her. Not that she had been capable of doing anything to help find her brother. She had been too young and fearful to do anything except whimper and allow herself to be carried back home.

She didn't shut the folder and walk away though, not like she had when confronted with the pizzeria, with Jessica's questions, and with the difficulties of her bedroom. This time she was determined to follow through and looked at the small group of papers in the right side of the folder. It turned out that it was a makeshift diary or investigations journal left behind by Henry. From the dates he had wrote down, he began his own investigation only a few days after Sammy's disappearance.

The first few entries were basic enough by listing places to look and people to ask questions. It wasn't until the back of the first page that Charlie found an entry that stood out.

" _JR called me today and told me about something strange that occurred a week before Sammy's disappearance. He said that someone was parked in the woods near the bar with their lights on and left about thirty minutes later. While I find this unsettling, this was before Sammy went missing, so the chances of them being connected are slim. Just to be safe I'm going to tell Clay. May ask Will if he saw anyone shady drive by his house that night."_

The context was lost on Charlie but the wording was disturbing. If she was right with dates then this would've happened before numerous children had gone missing at Freddy's. If someone was frequently visiting the woods for long periods of time… But again, it was before Sammy's disappearance. She kept the thought in mind but moved on to the next entries. The next one held just as much shock.

" _Someone called in and said they spotted Sammy at a gas station up in Salt Lake City. I hope to God it's him. The police are pulling up the security footage now and Clay said he would call me in to identify whether it's Sammy or not… Please, God, let it be him."_ But Charlie knew not to get her hopes up. Sure enough, the next entry read, _"After checking the footage, Clay is sure that it isn't Sammy. They're going to keep looking."_

The entries continued on like this. Each one became more despondent as Henry continued to seek answers from the police to no avail and worked through his own investigation on the side. It was going nowhere and Charlie already knew how this story was going to end. The last entry with a date was only a few days before Henry's death and was the basic minimum. Another lead fell through, he had been questioned again, his house had been searched, and still nothing had been found. The tone he portrayed in his writing sounded hopeless.

Except that after this entry there was a single sentence printed underneath it, staged like an entry but left without a date. Unlike the pencil scratches of the hopeless writing before it, it was in clean ink and written with purpose. Though it had the same traits in style as the earlier entries had, showing that it was still Henry's handwriting. It spelled out a cryptic message:

" _I found Sammy."_

"What?" Charlie was stunned by the news. She couldn't believe it at first, especially without any details beyond a single sentence. "He found Sammy? He couldn't have. Someone would've told me, even if it was just his remains… Right?"

Honestly, she didn't know. Even friends she hadn't seen in years walked on eggshells around her, and Jen wasn't the kind to even tell her that her father left a letter. The wording stood out and reminded her of something else she read recently. " _The letter said he and Sammy would be in a better place… Like he knew he was gone."_

It was only then that Charlie came to a revelation. All at once it seemed to crash down on her. "This can't be a coincidence. First, Freddy's reopens, then I get the letter in the mail, now I find all this. Did Dad leave this behind on purpose?" A chill ran down her spine. "…If they never found dad's body… Did he find out who took Sammy and was murdered to cover it up before he could tell?"

Suddenly this wasn't a reunion with a painful past. It was something much bigger than that. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Dad knew something he wasn't supposed to and I'm going to find out what it was."

With that, Charlie was on a mission. Putting her thoughts aside she began to go through whatever paperwork she could find in Henry's office. Alas, the file cabinet was emptied out, but the folder was still a treasure trove of information. The newspaper articles gave her plenty of information such as the date and the approximate time of the kidnap, the mislead in Salt Lake City that Henry's note spoke of, and even one slip that had been an open eulogy for her brother, even if he hadn't been found.

But that wasn't all she found. There was a single article about a group of children who had gone missing at Freddy's after being led away by someone in a suit, which Fazbear Entertainment reportedly denied. While Charlie was aware that children went missing at Freddy's, the article gave her insight on something else.

"So, that's why the suits always moved so human-like and how they could get off the stages on their own. Someone was wearing them… Which means that rabbit that took Sammy wasn't an animatronic. It was just some guy in a suit, and chances are he's the same man who took these other children." Charlie's deduction sent a shiver down her back. "And these kids went missing at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza years after the diner closed! Maybe there's more too. Maybe I could find some archived newspapers at the library."

It was the best lead Charlie had, but unfortunately it looked too late for the library to be open. She would have to go in the morning. In the meantime, she pulled the tapes out of the drawers and placed them onto the desk and hoped there was a cassette player somewhere underneath them. Alas, there wasn't, which meant the tapes would be useless until she could get a replacement. Maybe Aunt Jen would have one.

After nearly another hour of searching, Charlie realized that the office had been exhausted of leads. Now all that was left was her father's workshop. She headed there without hesitation.

Henry's workshop was cold and empty. It tainted her memories of sitting there watching her father tinker at his table, ones that had felt so warm and amazing. To her, her father was creating magic, building animals that would talk and sing like humans could, but now she couldn't help but see the aftereffects. Thankfully, she was too set on her goal to dwell, and began to look around.

Nobody had taken care in cleaning out Henry's workshop. Parts of old endoskeletons and tools had just been shoved into the cabinets to hide them while showing the house. Some of the cabinets immediately spilled forth with a loud clattering the moment she dared to open them. There wasn't even enough to guess what many of the animatronics were.

What did strike her interest was a second, much smaller, single drawer file cabinet that was filled with blueprints of every animatronic that Henry had ever built. She sat on the floor beside the cabinet and began to flip through them, and she was in awe.

"I didn't realize he made this many versions of Freddy. All these different themes and designs. Was he planning on opening more restaurants before the diner closed, or did he make these afterwards?" Either way, they were well detailed in their planning. Charlie was impressed and studied them as she closely as she would a textbook. There was a part of her excited to see all the characters too and there were tons of them. Even if they hadn't all became working animatronics.

Towards the end of the stack she found a prototype design for a 'Rock n' Roll Freddy' that looked suspiciously like the one at the new pizzeria. Fazbear Entertainment must've gotten ahold of Henry's own design if he hadn't sold it to them himself or lost it when losing ownership of Freddy's. She wasn't sure what she felt about that, but she could guarantee- having just looked through Henry's designs- the animatronics at Freddy's would've been more simple but might've had more charm. Though she knew she could've been biased.

She put the blueprints back and searched a little longer. There were plenty of interesting things in her father's workshop, and it was the first time she had felt a warmth of familiarity when she was looking through his things, but nothing to help her cause. She stayed lost in it a while longer before she decided to stop for the night.

Charlie climbed into her childhood bed between freshly laundered sheets and breathed a sigh. She couldn't tell if it was relief or mental and physical exhaustion, but she knew she would be getting a long night's sleep. The hallway light was left on and poured through the crack in the door to semi-illuminate the room. Just in case she woke up and forgot where she was. She didn't want to stay in the darkness tonight.

Her swirl of thoughts slowed and faded as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_Charlie opened her eyes and found herself staring at a ruby curtain. She stared at it blankly for a few moments before trying to turn her head to get a better look at where she was. Except her body was stuck in place and her head wouldn't turn. The only thing she could move was her eyes._

" _I can't move…" She blinked and her heavy eyelids struggled to raise again. Her body was compressed in an uncomfortable warmth. She felt suffocated in it. She looked closer at the curtains and noticed a wooden floor in the darkness. "Is this a stage?... Am I back at Freddy's?"_

_The more Charlie rolled her eyes around the better she got a feel of the space she was in. It was a stage, perhaps even the small one that she had seen earlier, and from the darkness it seemed like the pizzeria was closed. Before she could question more she heard a strange noise from nearby. A creaking, clinking noise, a low groan, and the thumps of heavy footsteps. It sounded like it was echoing through the walls._

" _What is that?" Paranoia began to creep up on Charlie and she struggled to move, but her body was pressed tight. "I've got to get out of here!"_

_But right as she was thrashing, she heard a new sound, a soft shushing right against her ear. She shivered with dread and continued trying to shake and free herself from the hold. Something was keeping her in place. Something firm began to dig into her back and neck, like metal pieces forcing themselves into her skin. Like loose springs coming out of a machine._

_And then, just when they felt like they would pierce into her, the curtain was thrown back and Charlie was blinded by two white lights. White eyes staring out of the darkness before closing in._

* * *

Charlie awoke with a start, sweaty and tangled in her blankets. She was so disoriented that she briefly forgot where she was and panicked for a split second before remembering why she wasn't in her dorm. She pushed her hair back out of her face and sat there in bed with her head in her hands. What a disturbing dream; it had felt so real. It almost felt like a warning.

She checked her phone and after seeing that it wasn't even six in the morning yet she laid back down. She didn't feel comfortable enough to sleep, but she tried to, hoping to get a little more rest before her investigation would continue tomorrow. Because if the dream did anything, it was encouraging her that there was something left to find at Freddy's.

She was going to find what it was that her father warned her not to.


	3. Bonding

Even with a rough night's sleep, Charlie left the house shortly after eight o'clock and headed to the public library. There she began searching into what information she could find about Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. It wasn't long before its disturbing history was laid out before her. Missing children presumed dead but with no bodies, just like Sammy, accidents with defective animatronics, and suspiciously abrupt closings.

Nobody was ever brought to justice for any of it and Freddy's kept rolling into new hands where it would open new pizzerias. Then they would close and the cycle would continue, leaving a trail of dead ends.

" _Sammy was just the beginning. How many people disappeared even after the diner closed?"_ Charlie thought to herself in disbelief. Perhaps this was what he father wouldn't have wanted her to see. Though most of this information was specifically about Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and not the diner. _"Maybe there were other incidents at the diner that just weren't reported."_

She set the current newspaper aside and reached for one of the two she had left. She looked at it momentarily before her eyes widened as she saw a picture of a boy staring up. "Is that…?! No, wait. That's not him."

For a moment she thought the boy in the picture was Sammy, but on closer inspection it became clear that he wasn't. He looked to be somewhere between seven or nine years old while Sammy had gone missing as a toddler. He did resemble her brother from what she remembered. In the black and white picture she could tell he was a brunette with brown eyes just like he had been. She read over the article.

" **Child Bitten at Freddy's: A local child is in critical care after an accident at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Police reports state that one of the robotic performers bit the child on the head after he climbed onto the stage. The boy, whose name has been kept confidential at the family's request, is currently admitted to the ICU. No further details about his condition have been released. This is the second accident at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza since reopening in the summer."**

Just another tragic story without an ending. While Charlie wondered which animatronic bit the child and if he recovered she doubted she would get an answer. Somehow Freddy's managed to keep stories from staying in the limelight while still being incapable of keeping itself off the newspaper.

" _How were they even able to reopen with all of this?"_ Charlie wondered. She sent one last sympathetic look at the picture before setting the newspaper aside. He reminded her so much of Sammy. _"Poor kid…"_

Now she was onto the last newspaper in the stack. At first Charlie expected it to be nothing of importance, having just an article about one of the older iterations of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza opening. She scanned through it quickly and tried to find anything of interest, trying to ignore the sinking feeling when she read the positive response and knowing what would come of it, and found something in the last few lines.

" **Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is just the newest restaurant in a string of businesses opened by Fazbear Entertainment. Beginning with the opening of Fredbear's Family Diner, founded by William Afton and Henry Emily, which closed its doors to make way for the expansion of the franchise."**

Ignoring the slew of buzzwords, Charlie focused in on the two names presented in the article; Henry Emily, her father, and someone named William Afton. If her father had a business partner then maybe he would know more about what happened, if he wasn't directly involved in it. Charlie didn't want to immediately become suspicious but found it odd that she had never heard about this man, unless he was the 'Will' mentioned in her father's entries from last night.

With no more newspapers left she turned to the computers for information. Unfortunately, looking up William's name led her to some of the same places she had found in the newspapers. She could at least confirm that he was her father's business partner but not much else. Though one website did stand out. In the midst of Freddy's websites was one about 'Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental', and in the description it emboldened something called 'Afton Robotics'. Possibly William's robotics company.

Clicking on the link led to a dead page that stopped her investigation in its tracks. She still wasn't ready to give up and looked up Afton Robotics directly. This time she found little on the company itself, but a slew of results about something called 'Circus Baby's Pizza World'. Just seeing that name and how familiar it was to Freddy's filled her with dread.

"Not another one…" She murmured as she looked through the results. Only a few down she found one that eased her mind, proudly proclaiming 'Circus Baby's opening cancelled due to gas leaks'. "Thank God," she mumbled as she clicked onto the news article. _"At least it didn't open. I'm sure they were just rebranding to cover up their history. Not that someone couldn't just look and find plenty… If anyone looked."_

The article was uninteresting to say the least. It literally recited the same thing as in the title; Circus Baby's closed down before it truly opened due to gas leaks. It seemed suspicious and she knew there was probably an accident hidden behind that excuse, but she doubted that she would find it with how cautiously this pizzeria had been covered up. By now the whole thing had left her feeling cynical and numb to it, realizing the full extent of all of this, and yet she couldn't stop herself from continuing to look.

There was an image of a poster advertising Circus Baby's Pizza World along with the article instead of a picture of the establishment. On it was a female clown with orange pigtails and a red dress with two smaller, baby-like dolls at her side. This must've been Baby, and Charlie noticed right away that it was quite different than the animatronics from Freddy's. Not just from the design but from the cracks along its skin that seemed to depict plates on its outer body. None of her father's blueprints depicted anything like this. Baby was definitely not his creation.

Charlie was mere inches from the screen staring at this blurry picture of a clown when her cellphone suddenly started to ring. She jumped, realized it was a call, and quickly got up and hurried towards the library's bathrooms. She answered only once she was close to the hall. "Hello?" she asked quietly.

" _Hey, it's me. Just calling to check if you made it through the night,"_ Jessica joked. _"Why are you whispering?"_

"Hold on a second." Charlie stepped into the women's bathroom and shut the door behind her. "Sorry about that. I'm at the library doing some research."

"… _Usually the point of taking time off is to actually take time off. How are you already back to studying?"_ Charlie decided not to correct her and risk having to come clean about what she was doing here. _"You need a break. Marla just called me and was asking if we wanted to go on a hike. Do you want to go?"_

"Sure, but do you think you're up to it after yesterday? I'm not sure if a long hike is good after so much heavy labor," Charlie lightly teased. She could hear Jessica give a fake scoff.

" _Oh please. You're the one who had to lug that twenty-pound comforter home alone. I walked away from that job with my head held high… And heavy with memories of peeling the bathroom sink."_ That description alone got a chuckle out of Charlie. Jessica perked up and added, " _I'll call Marla back and tell her we're in."_

"Alright. Let me just finish up here and then I'll be over there. Bye."

As soon as Charlie ended the call she began kicking herself for agreeing so readily. Here she was on some sort of breakthrough- or close to one from the scraps of information she was collecting- and she was going to stop everything to go hiking. Then again, she did feel guilty for not staying in touch with her friends, and she did want to go. She both wanted an escape from her discoveries and still wanted to keep searching.

" _Just go and have fun. You wanted to spend time with everyone, that's the whole reason you came here. Freddy's isn't going anywhere,"_ she assured herself. With that in mind, she went to go get her things and left the library after she had made copies of some of the newspaper articles. She put them in her backpack so they wouldn't be noticed, and so she wouldn't have that boy's picture staring at her any longer.

She met Jessica at the motel and shortly afterwards Marla also arrived at the motel and beckoned them into her car. Charlie got into the back when she noticed that she wasn't going to be alone there. A boy, maybe middle school age but she couldn't tell, was sitting in the seat behind Marla's and playing on a handheld game system.

"-If we get up there fast enough. By the way, Charlie, you didn't get to meet Jason yesterday. Charlie, Jason. Jason, Charlie. Jason's my little brother and the one who planted the hike idea, so if you want to blame anyone for this, blame him," Marla joked. She started up the car and began to drive.

"Hey," Jason greeted. He looked up for his game for a moment but quickly returned to it, his tone sounding welcoming but his eyes unable to leave whatever battle he was having on the screen.

Marla pursed her lips at his lethargic response before adding in coyly, "Charlie here builds robots over at the college in St. George."

Now Jason was interested. He paused his game midway through whatever he was doing to look at the girl in the backseat, brimming with curiosity. "Really? You work on real robots, no joke?" he asked.

"Well, yes, but I don't really- Marla's exaggerating. I don't build robots. Or not yet, not on my own. Right now it's just smaller projects. I'm really just a novice," Charlie tried to explain. She suddenly felt very put on the spot, but thankfully Jason didn't seem disappointed in this. In fact, he might've just taken her 'yes' and went with it.

"Cool! Can you get them to do stuff? Like not just move, can you get them to do things?" Jason asked. "And do you use a remote or do they just do the things you tell them too?"

Charlie had a feeling this might be a very long car ride… Or a very short one. It wasn't every day that she found someone so curious in what she studied. She smiled. "Well, for starters, usually we use a control panel-."

The hiking trail was just outside of town, located on the cliffside that overlooked the city. A functional but barren radio tower sat nearby the small parking lot they pulled into. Perhaps used both for cell service and to guide those who risked getting lost on the mountain. Not that it was hard with all the houses laying out before them. It was still warm out even though the sky was overcast.

Lamar had arrived already and must've brought Carlton because they were both standing outside talking. John was there too but still in his vehicle. He got out to join the others as Marla parked alongside them and everyone got out. Jason finally released Charlie long enough to circle around and stick himself close to Lamar. Though he didn't seem to mind, chatting up the boy and telling him about the trail. Apparently he too must've had some influence in where they were going.

"Hey Charlie," John greeted. He came right over to her as she returned his greeting. Jessica stood alongside them with a familiar smile. "How did last night go?"

"Better than I thought. We got the house in mostly working condition. My old bed's still there too, so I had someplace to sleep," Charlie said.

"That's good to here. I was a little worried when I heard you were staying there alone, but I should've known you could handle it."

"Who told you-?" Charlie didn't even have to finish. She saw that smile Jessica had out of the corner of eye and knew it was her. It was a rather strange smile, coy, almost like she knew something, but it was definitely nothing Charlie was hiding. She further assured him, "It's not as bad as I thought it would be."

"Good. Just know that I'm here if you need any extra help," he offered. She appreciated it and thanked him. Before the conversation could continue, Lamar spoke up and rallied the group.

"Alright, guys! Let's get moving. There's a chance of rain later and I don't want to be stuck on the side of the cliff if it lets loose," he said. Then he led them to the mouth of the trail and they began their hike.

Ironically, Lamar's prediction was the exact opposite of what happened. About a mile into the seven mile hike the clouds broke apart and the sun started coming through. It didn't seem to make it any hotter, it was plenty warm before the sun came out. Spirits were still high in the beginning. Lamar and Jason kept to the front of the group in their own conversation. Jessica recounted the details of the work on the house and, much to Charlie's amusement, left out no details.

About halfway through the hike, the back of the group started to lag further behind the front. Seeing that there wasn't really any shade or decent resting spots, Lamar steered them towards a cluster of large rocks, thinking that at least it would be better than sitting directly on the ground. Which wouldn't have been much softer. "Let's take a ten-minute break to catch our breath."

"What happened to getting stuck miles away from the car in the pouring rain?" Carlton asked, tiredly joking.

"We should be so lucky," John chimed in from beside him. Carlton didn't disagree. Honestly, neither did Lamar.

Charlie was surprised that she had handled the walk as well as she had considering she had been wearing her jacket through most of it. Eventually it had grown so unbearable that she had to tie it around her waist which had gotten her through the last leg of it. She sat down alongside Marla who proceeded to yank off her shoe and unweave the lace out of it, which she then used to pin up her hair, seemingly forgetting to bring anything to pull it back with. Odd, but effective.

Carlton sat on the other side of Marla. He took one look over her effort to cool herself, fanning her neck and pinning her hair up with a shoe lace, and gave a simple, "You look hot."

She deflected with, "Don't even try to flirt with me when I'm melting."

" _Melting into my hands."_

Marla reluctantly snickered. "Okay, you got lucky with that one." She bumped her shoulder against his playfully then took his hand.

The morale seemed high from Charlie's perspective. Everyone was confident and eager enough considering how far they walked. Maybe it was the fatigue or the heat, but something in her mind randomly decided that this was the best time to casually grill her friends on a topic she knew would come back to bite her. "Has anyone heard of Circus Baby's Pizza World?"

Marla looked to her questioningly, still fanning herself with her free hand. "What's that? Is it like Freddy's or is just like a pizza place?"

"No, it's like Freddy's… So, I was going through my father's office last night and I found out that he had a business partner named William Afton. I've never heard of him before now but I think he had a robotics company and might've opened this Baby's place. Or he tried to, I think it fell through," Charlie explained. Marla hummed.

"None of those names are ringing any bells. But I guess it makes sense that your dad wasn't working alone. It's not exactly easy to open a business by yourself."

"Ergo, Baby's," Carlton jokingly added in. Right afterwards he paused thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it, I swear I've heard the name Afton before. I just don't know where. Maybe dad mentioned it."

"Uh oh. _That_ can't be good," Marla said with a smile, now nudging Charlie. "But what had you looking into that? Visiting Freddy's?"

Charlie knew that it wasn't just Carlton and Marla listening, it couldn't be, and suddenly that self-consciousness rose back up. She didn't want them to know the extent of it so she played on an excuse.

"No, this is just what happens when you're stuck in a house with nothing to distract yourself except a bookshelf full of electronics manuals. It was either that or break out my old toys and I just don't have the imagination I used to," Charlie said. This managed to keep the mood light and didn't tip anyone off to why she was really searching. "Should we keep moving?"

Marla groaned and then gave a tired, "Yes." It was too hot to sit for long and Jason had been eager to move since they stopped, so they continued on their journey. Nobody else mentioned Circus Baby's or William Afton, not even Charlie herself. She was glad just to live in the moment for a little longer.

Eventually they made it around the full loop of the hike and back up to the parking lot. By then everyone had become quiet as they pushed through the last leg of the journey, only finding their voices once within sight of the cars. As Charlie climbed into the backseat of Marla's car, she noticed John watching her again.

Maybe she was imagining it, but John seemed to be paying significant attention to her through the entire hike. They hadn't had any deep conversation like she and Jessica had, but she had noticed him watching her more than once, or them exchanging a few words, or him offering his water bottle at various moments in the hike. Maybe she was overreading his kindness; maybe it was just because of the jacket.

"So, what's the plan?" Jessica asked. Her voice snapped Charlie out of her daze and she turned to see the blond half turned in the passenger's seat. "I'm heading back to the hotel to rinse off. You?"

"Well, I'm tired, sweaty, dusty, and I think I got sunburn on my neck…" Charlie paused for emphasis and then shrugged. "Guess it's time to go scrub out my bathtub."

"You can't be serious."

"It's either that or hosing down outside and I'm even sure if there's still a water hose out back."

"Why don't you use the shower at the hotel? I'm paying for it anyways, why not get my full money's worth?" Jessica suggested.

As tempting as it sounded she declined. "Thanks, but I need to get the bathroom finished and now I have a reason to do it. We can still meet up later," Charlie said.

"Hey, yeah. Maybe we could get dinner or catch a movie or something! I'll call the others and set it up!" Marla agreed excitedly. "…But _later_."

Shortly afterwards, Marla dropped them off at the motel and drove home with Jason. Jessica stayed at the hotel while Charlie drove home, pulled on a pair of rubber gloves, and worked through the bathtub. It wasn't as bad as she expected it to be. The cleaner that had been left to soak had broken down most of the grime and made it easier to wipe out. What followed was a cold shower in a clean tub, good enough.

Then, without calling anyone, it was back to the library to pick up where she left off. Within the hour she was back at the computer, searching for any information she could find, and this time her target was the recently opened Freddy's Fazbear's Pizza. Except for one problem, there wasn't anything on it.

Most Freddy locations had an online or newspaper announcement to advertise their opening, the new Freddy Fazbear's Pizza did not. There were no interviews with the staff members, she couldn't even find the name of anyone behind it, and no reports of accidents. The only thing she could find was a few reviews left behind and they were rather vague on details.

What was even more bizarre was that she couldn't find anything on the animatronics themselves. Even the official Freddy Fazbear's Fans website- which didn't look like it had been updated in ages- didn't say anything on the building or the bots inside. It was uncanny and she wasn't entirely sure that it was just because the place recently opened or not.

Once again, Charlie was interrupted by a phone call. This time she stepped outside to answer it. "Hello?"

" _Hey!_ " Marla chirped. It sounded like she had regained all the life back into her. " _Okay, so here's the plan. Lamar's busy tonight and Jessica's just going to hang out at the hotel, so the rest of us were thinking of going out to get an early dinner. Or a late lunch or something, and then see where it goes from there. What do you think?"_

"I'll be there. Do you have a place in mind?" It wasn't like she was finding anything here anyway. Marla gave her the directions and she finished up before leaving the library, not that there was much to be finished.

It was a casual, southwestern themed restaurant and Charlie was the first to arrive. The smell of barbeque met her in the parking lot and reminded her that she had postponed lunch due to all the distractions of the day and never made up for it. She headed inside and took a booth in a secluded corner by the window.

A few minutes later she heard someone coming and looked up from the menu to see John walking up. She greeted him with a smile. "Hey there. Long time no see," she joked.

"I know. It feels like its been ages," John played along as he sat down on the other side of the booth. Charlie handed him over one of the menus. "Nobody else is here yet?"

"Not yet. Glad you got here in time to keep me company though," Charlie joked. John chuckled and glanced at her over the menu. The conversation didn't go much further than small talk.

Then Marla walked in and brightened the entire table in seconds with a welcoming, "Hi!" Carlton was with her and they were holding hands again, which Charlie was starting to notice. John got up to greet them as she scooted further into the booth to give them space to sit.

Then something very noticeable happened. John, who had been up to this point sitting on the other side of the booth, slid in beside her to let Carlton and Marla take the other side. It was this that made Charlie double take as she noticed how peculiar this looked. Carlton and Marla, who were together, on one side of the table, her and John on the other, genders lined up, eating at a sit-down restaurant.

" _Is this a double date?"_ Charlie thought with surprise. Her suspicions only grew when she thought about it more. _"Jessica didn't call me at all after turning down Marla? That seems a little…"_ John sent her a side smile and she returned it as she folded up her menu. As she went to pass it over to Marla, she noticed her giving a similar look to what Jessica gave them earlier when they were talking, a rather over-eager smile. _"Yeah, okay. This is a set-up. Not sure how I feel about that."_

Charlie couldn't say she didn't like John. She liked his wit and friendliness, and he was rather attractive, but the idea of a relationship seemed so foreign to her. She wasn't even sure how to go about it or if she even wanted to. He barely knew her so what was to say that he would like what he saw when he dug deeper? And for her him?

"The barbeque chicken is flat-out amazing. It's like nothing but sauce and somehow it works," Marla said. That was enough to coax Charlie out of her cycling thoughts and back to the present meal. She tried to ignore the slight feeling of pressure and soon enough it faded. The meal continued on normally.

There was only one thing that seemed odd that she noticed right away, and that was how quiet Carlton was being. Normally he was willing to say what was on his mind and chime in whenever, as he was earlier, but now it seemed like they had to pull words out of him. It wasn't until they were finishing up and preparing to leave that anything came of it.

Marla had left to use the restroom right before the check came. Carlton watched her leave before suddenly sliding down the booth to sit across from Charlie. He leaned in and lowered his voice.

"I know this is a bad time to bring it up, but I found something on that guy you were talking about earlier. You said William Afton, right?" Carlton whispered.

Charlie was almost startled to hear him bring the name up again. "Yes, that's him. What did you find out?"

"I thought I heard the name before so I went ahead and asked my dad, and after I prodded enough to get him to admit he existed he let me in on the details. You know how- You know about the kids that went missing." Charlie nodded. "Right, well, this guy wasn't just one of the owners. He was _the guy_ who Dad was investigating for being involve in the disappearances of these kids. He, uh…" Carlton lowered his voice further, voice sympathetic. "He was a suspect in Sammy's disappearance too."

Charlie wasn't surprised but hearing it sent a chill down her spine. He would've had both the means and the opportunity to kidnap her brother… And he would've had complete access to the costumes. She couldn't prove anything yet but it fit too well to ignore, and Carlton wasn't even finished.

"But wait, it gets a lot more skeevy. So, I don't know if it was after your dad passed away or after the kids disappeared, but William just vanishes off the face of the earth. I'm not kidding! He split town when he was the number one suspect- that's the most suspicious thing you can do! After that Dad pretty much shut down. He said he doesn't know about any other companies or businesses or where he is. Then he tells me to stay away from him- nice subtlety there, Dad- and that's the end of it… But I got the feeling he was hiding something, so I went into his office and looked through his case files."

"Wait a minute. I thought your dad locks his office," John interrupted, apparently listening in.

"Yeah, but it's in the basement. I just climbed through the window," Carlton said. He shrugged it off like it was nothing while the two listeners seemed mildly befuddled. "Dad has this file cabinet that is just stuffed with files about old cases. Just in case he needs to go back to them. And in there I find this file on Freddy's. I didn't read through all the reports but I did find one on William Afton and his family. You know, he had a daughter that went missing too, but nobody knows if he took her and hopped the border or not. _But_ there's someone else…"

Carlton dug into his pocket and quickly pulled out a folded-up piece of paper and handed it over. Charlie unfolded it to see the information that Carlton had wrote down on the paper. It was a phone number, an address, and a single name: **Michael Afton**.

"That's William's son. Apparently he still lives around here and hasn't been in contact with William… But he might know something." Immediately, Carlton raised his hands in defense. "Just for the record: that doesn't mean that I think you should try to get in touch with this guy. From what it sounds like, William is super suspicious and trying to get ahold of him could be a really bad idea."

Carlton looked back to check the restroom door and noticed Marla on her way back. He clammed back up immediately, glancing between Charlie and John as though silently asking them not to rat him out. Neither did and Charlie discreetly put the paper in her jacket pocket as they got up to leave.

They headed out to the parking lot and exchanged a few more pleasantries before dispersing. Marla was overflowing with ideas for the next outing, already planning out the next day even when she was trying to think of something she could fit into today. Charlie gave her some excuse about stopping in with Jessica, and Marla and Carlton drove off together shortly afterwards.

Charlie sat in her car for a few moments. Instead of turning it on she brought the slip of paper out of her pocket and stared at the words on it. Here it was, yet another lead.

" _Should I really do this? How far do I want to get myself involved?"_ Charlie asked herself. This could be dangerous. There was clearly a reason her father warned her not to get involved. Though she couldn't stop thinking about his other words, about finding Sammy. _"…But what if Sammy's still out there somewhere?"_

Maybe Michael was the reason her father had found her brother. Maybe he was the one who had the answers. She bit her lip as she stared at those numbers. All it would take was one call…

There was a knocking on her window and she turned to see John standing there. She had thought he drove off so she was surprised to see him and quickly rolled down her window for him.

"Everything okay?" he asked, leaning in on the window. Charlie gave him a half-smile before looking down at the paper again.

"Yeah… I'm thinking of going ahead and calling him. Seeing what he knows," she admitted. John nodded and she took it as a go ahead. She got out her cellphone and dialed the number before her nerve could fail. She braced herself for a response.

" _We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service."_

"No luck. He must've changed his number," Charlie said as she ended the call. She then looked to the paper again; it would've been much easier to change his number than it would've been to move.

"Are you thinking about going over there?" John asked. She didn't answer beyond a half-shrug but was considering it. "Mind if I tag along?"

Charlie was surprised by the offer. She had expected him to stop her, especially after everything Carlton had said in the restaurant. She had just assumed that the others would try to shelter her after their reluctance to talk about Freddy's the day before. Then again, John hadn't. He had agreed to go to Freddy's once he knew she wanted to go and now here he was willing to drive out to a questionable address with her.

"Are you sure? It's getting late," Charlie said.

John smiled. "Not that late. Not unless we wait any longer." Relieved, Charlie nodded and unlocked the passenger door for him. He climbed inside and she started up the car. He checked the address again. "I think I know where this is. At least, I know where this road is. You're going to want to take a right out of the parking lot." She followed his lead and soon they were on the road.

Charlie wasn't entirely sure what she felt for John, but she was glad that he was there and that she didn't have to make this ride alone. That was enough to put a smile back on her face.

Now she could only hope that Michael was as helpful.


	4. Caution

It turned out that the address led to a flat of apartments only a few roads off of the highway. It also explained why the address had an extra number in it, they realized this must've been the apartment number. The setting sun at the building's back cast a dark shadow over the parking lot, giving it an eerily cool feel in the blisteringly warm day. The parking lot was nearly empty of cars and very quiet.

Charlie and John searched around before finding the apartment on the second floor, taking the outside stairs to reach it. The lights were off and the shades had been drawn tightly. She couldn't even see a crack to peek through. Resolved to going ahead with this, Charlie knocked on the door. There was no answer, even when she continued knocking.

"I guess he's not home… Unless he moved too," Charlie said with dismay.

"Looks like someone's living here. I guess if they are they might know where he moved to. Or who knows. Maybe he's just out," John suggested. He checked his watch. "He could be out getting dinner."

"Think I should leave a note?" He didn't seem against the idea. "Let me just run to the car and get a paper and pen. I'll be right back."

Charlie hurried back down the stairs and back to her car. She got out a piece of paper and quickly jotted down a message.

" **Hello. My name is Charlie and I'm trying to get in touch with Michael Afton. If you are or know him, please have him give me a call. It's important."** She then quickly wrote down her number. She decided to not put her last name to not tip him off and scare him away. She couldn't be too sure that he wouldn't try to avoid further questioning.

By time she had come back to the apartment, she was surprised to see that John was no longer alone. Instead he was chatting with a woman who looked to be in her early sixties. She was small and thin with a friendly looking face. The two noticed Charlie walking up and John regarded her.

"Here she is. Charlie, this is Mrs. Prentice. She's Michael's neighbor," John introduced.

"It's nice to meet you," Charlie greeted. The older woman greeted her with warm smile. "I was just about to leave a note, but if you wouldn't mind giving it to him- Or, umm, if he still lives here."

"Not exactly," John said lowly and cryptically. She looked to him questioningly, but it was Mrs. Prentice who took the liberty to explain.

"I heard your voices out here and thought maybe it was him. We've all been very worried about him," Mrs. Prentice began. Already Charlie knew this explanation wouldn't go in her favor. "About, oh, a month ago? Maybe just a few weeks, maybe three weeks- My husband would know but he's not home yet. Anyways, Michael left and hasn't been home in ages. Nobody's heard anything from him either."

"What?" That timing sounded too suspicious to be a coincidence. "And… You don't think he just moved unexpectedly?"

"Oh, no! Angie- she's our landlord's wife- said that he was all paid up on his rent and didn't give any warning that he was leaving, and I certainly didn't see him moving any boxes. I heard him leaving for work around eleven, like usual, and then he just didn't come back the next morning. It's very strange, it's not like him to up and leave. Though I suppose it's not normal for anyone to just vanish, but you'd be surprised how many people up and disappear in this town."

Charlie felt a sinking feeling in her gut. It was definitely not a coincidence that Michael's disappearance somehow lined up closely to both Freddy's opening and the letter being sent. Something was going on here and she was starting to become more determined to find out what while equally uncertain if she would be able to do so.

"Has anyone reported him missing?" Charlie asked. The woman shook her head.

"I don't know if we can. He doesn't have any friends and family who've come looking for him. Maybe after the rent is late someone can do something. He's never late with the rent," Mrs. Prentice explained. "Would you like to come inside?"

"No thank you, we really should be going. If he does come back, you'll tell him we came by?" The woman agreed and headed back into the apartment. Charlie stilled slipped the note underneath Michael's door even though she doubted he would get it. Then she and John returned to the car and began to drive back into town.

The beginning of the ride was quiet. Charlie couldn't hide her disappointment at the lack of answers, or her disturbed frown as she thought about everything she had learned in the last few days. John must've noticed and as they pulled into the restaurant parking lot he spoke up.

"Can I ask you something?" John asked. Charlie agreed with 'sure'. "Why are you looking for William? You said you saw his name in your dad's notes, but you wouldn't have gone this far without a reason." It surprised her how quickly he had caught on. She considered telling him, wondering if he would make efforts to stop her, and finally did so.

"I don't think my father's death was a suicide like everyone said, I don't think my brother just 'went missing', and I think someone tried to cover both of those up… And I think it was William who did."

John was understandably surprised by the reveal but kept his cool. "What makes you think that?" He didn't sound like he doubted her. If anything, he sounded like he was trying to understand.

Unfortunately, that meant she would have to bring up a subject she hadn't thought of for some time; the night of her father's death.

"There's something strange about how my father died. Nobody ever found his body, they just found a large pool of blood. Nobody could've survived that much bleeding… And everyone knew my father was depressed after Sammy disappeared. My mother and him stopped talking, she was always out, and towards the end he was even starting to push me away. That and the fact that there was no signs of a struggle led them to believe it was a suicide."

"Without a body?" John questioned doubtfully.

"Right… But I don't think it was. And I don't think Clay thinks it was either, I just don't think he has any evidence to the contrary. Just like with Freddy's. Do you know how many people got hurt or disappeared and just had their stories covered up? This could've been the same thing… I know it was." Charlie face grew more firm. "My dad's last note said that he found Sammy. I think someone murdered him to cover it up… Because I know he must've found Sammy's body."

John was silent as he took all of it in. Then he agreed, "When you put it that way, I can see why you'd want answers. Nothing about that sounds right. I don't understand why they didn't look deeper into it." Charlie didn't have any answers either. "Remember when I told you I wanted to help? I meant it. I can't promise we're going to get to the bottom of this, but if you need anything I'm here."

"Are you sure you'd want to get involved? If what I'm suspecting is true, I could be making myself a target," Charlie pointed out. John seemed unwavering and she smiled. "Thanks, John… For starters, you can open the glovebox and tell me what you make of the letter inside."

John did so and found Henry's letter inside. As he read it, Charlie looked out the window at the dots of stars beginning to appear in the sky, the clouds from the day having cleared up.

She waited until she was sure he was mostly finished before adding, "And secondly, if you could keep this between us. I've told Jessica about the letter and I'll tell everyone everything eventually, but I'm afraid if I tell them now then they'll try to stop me. Or tell my aunt who I know will try to stop me."

"Are you sure this is from him?" John asked doubtfully.

"No, I'm not," she admitted. She sighed and turned back to him. "But if it's not, then it was from someone who knew enough to make it sound like it was… The main goal is to find Sammy or what happened to him. That was the last thing my dad said he did and I know it's connected to his death and the missing children. I just have a hunch."

"Alright," John said as he put the letter away. "But you're going home now?"

"Right."

"Then I'm heading home too. I'll look around online tonight and see what I can find. Call me if you hear any news from Michael." John got out of the car and she almost thought that was it, until he came around to her side and leaned in the window once again. He was quiet for a moment before taking the plunge and asking, "You want to meet up tomorrow? Just the two of us?"

It totally blindsided her. Charlie knew that he was asking about a date but the fact that he asked it now, when she was still thinking about her father, felt like emotional whiplash. It was clear from his small smile that he was trying to be there for her like he said and she knew he cared, she just didn't know if she was ready for all of this. She felt like she didn't have a choice as she gave him a hesitant smile of her own.

"That sounds nice," she agreed. He seemed more than happy with this and headed to his own vehicle, waving once again before climbing inside and backing out of the parking lot. Charlie followed in her car.

" _Why did I agree to that? We only just met back up. This is going way too fast,"_ Charlie thought anxiously. Though this nervousness was quickly forgotten as she pulled out onto the road and thought back on the missing man. _"He just happens to disappear right when all of this is going on… Maybe he left town unexpectedly. Maybe he found out something and had to leave."_

There were too many questions that she wasn't finding answers to. Once again she was stuck at another dead end, and this time she didn't have anything else to fall back on unless Carlton or John dug something up overnight. She couldn't rely on that though, like she couldn't rely on Michael calling her back. She had a hunch that he wasn't coming back anytime soon. There had to be something else she could do.

With that, Charlie turned abruptly and started driving away from the direction of her home and instead towards Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

The restaurant was still open but it didn't look like it would be much longer. There were only a few cars in the parking lot as she pulled up and got out. Swallowing her unease, she strode up to the front doors and stepped inside. The building made her a lot more nervous now than when she was surrounded by friends.

It didn't help that the restaurant was almost cleared out inside. While there were a few cars outside, there was only one family left in the establishment consisting of three children and their parents. They were playing a basketball throwing game against the wall. The father lifted up the youngest son to help him throw a ball into the basket while his mother and slightly older siblings watched. They were all smiling and looked so happy together. Charlie's gaze lingered on them longer than she intended it to.

Then she looked around and noticed a familiar man cleaning off the tables. It was clearly the man who had served her and her friends. He swept paper plates and used napkins off the tables and into a black garbage bag he toted with him as he made his rounds. Charlie walked up to him with the same determination she had when coming in.

"Excuse me?" she began. He looked back at her. "I don't know if you remember me. I came in with my friends yesterday and we had a pizza?"

"Oh, I remember you. We don't usually get anyone in here over the age of ten unless they've got a couple of kids on them. You guys stuck out like a sore thumb," he said with a smirk. He looked around and realized that she was alone. "Dining alone tonight? You know there's cheaper places to get pizza in town. By which I mean cheaper places to get _better_ pizza."

"Not exactly. Actually I was hoping maybe you could help me. I'm trying to find a man named Michael Afton. Have you heard of him?" Charlie asked. The man raised a brow questioningly.

"Michael _Afton_?" he asked and she nodded. "No, don't know anything about him… Wasn't Afton that company that used to run robots out of their basement?"

"Honestly, I don't know. That's one of the things I'm trying to figure out." The server now seemed more curious and paid closer attention. She realized she couldn't back down now so she kept going. "I'm trying to look into some of the occurrences that happened at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, the old ones, and his name came up."

"Why would you want to do that? Kid, there's so many skeletons in Freddy's closet that it could fill up a Fazbear Entertainment licensed graveyard." Charlie didn't know what was stranger, the fact that he was clearly aware of Freddy's history and this nonchalant about it, or that he called her 'kid' when he only looked maybe three or four years older than her. She felt like he too wasn't taking her seriously.

"…My father was one of the original owners of Freddy's," she revealed. "And my brother was one of the children that went missing at Freddy's."

"Oh… Gotcha." That left him silent for a long moment.

"I know that working here you can't really disclose much without risking your job," Charlie sympathized. "But I'm running out of options. Do you know where he is?"

"Look, I really wish I could help you. I'm not here to protect Freddy's, I could care less about keeping this job, but I just don't know anything. All that stuff that went down at Freddy's happened years before I started working here. Now I could get my manager if you want-."

"No, that's fine. Don't worry about it…" Charlie had a good suspicion that any manager would ask her to leave and that would make it harder to come back. She turned away and looked across the restaurant, trying to smother her embarrassment, regretting even coming. That was, until she noticed the smaller stage's curtains were drawn back enough that she could see inside.

The black bear was missing. It reminded her of her dream from the night before.

"What happened to the other Freddy that was on that stage?" she dared to ask, pointing towards the empty spot where the bear once stood.

"You mean Lefty? He's in the back getting serviced." The man nonchalantly turned and continued collecting trash for the bag. "Don't expect him back anytime soon. He's been on the fritz since the place opened. This time I think the boss is looking to keep him off stage until they get the kinks worked out. Considering that it's already a one-eyed bear, I don't expect a miracle."

"Oh…" That black bear had been so unlike the others that it naturally stood out. Maybe if she couldn't get information about Freddy's, she could at least get information on the bear. "What do you think-?" She turned towards the server and her mouth snapped shut as her eyes fell across the room and landed on a familiar onlooker.

There was the man in the suit and Freddy head standing right beside the door to the back. Except this time he wasn't passing through or looking at the stage, he was looking directly at her. The head's eyes were empty, black holes that burrowed into her. Even hidden under the costume the man didn't seem human and his newfound attention made her very uncomfortable. That wasn't even considering that if he was the manager or owner then he could easily have her trespassed. It was time to go.

Charlie cleared her throat and rushed out, "Thanks for your time. If you do see him, somehow, just tell him that I left a note at his apartment with my information… If you'll excuse me." The server seemed surprised by the abruptness as she hurried out of the restaurant. She kept her arms folded tightly to her chest and only spared one glance towards the happy family before exiting the building.

" _If that was the manager and he hears that I've been asking around then he's not going to let me back in… Guess that's probably for the best with their accident rates."_ She sighed deeply and made a beeline for the car. _"Why would I tell a complete stranger that my dad owned Freddy's? Now they're going to think I'm looking to sue them or something."_ She unlocked the car and was about to get in when a voice called out.

"Hey Lady, wait up!"

Charlie was surprised by the call and looked back to see the server jogging across the parking lot. She furrowed her brows and he slowed beside her car, leaning against the car coolly, and sent her a sly smirk. He then gave an equally relaxed, "Smile and pretend I'm flirting with you."

"What?" While confused, Charlie did manage a realistically askew smile.

"The place has cameras, just go with it," the server said. He smiled wider as he crossed his arms over his chest, back against the car, and head tilted down towards her. He played the role very authentically as he said through gritted teeth, "Look, the only reason I'm telling you this is because I believe your story. Either you're telling the truth or you've really done your research."

"I'm telling the truth. My father was Henry Emily. I have a newspaper with his name on it in the car if you want to see it."

"Nah, I believe you. I don't want them seeing you pulling out anything. Just act natural," the server assured. He took a deep breath, looking for a moment like he was almost reconsidering it, and then explained. "A few years ago I worked as a night guard at a shutdown Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. They told me that I was there to keep out vandals and thieves, but that was a lie." He lowered his voice to a whisper, "The animatronics used to walk around at night."

"What?" Charlie asked in surprise. "What do you mean? You mean they walked around the building or they kept performing like they did during the day?"

"God, I wish. They would come right up to the office and start banging on the doors trying to get inside. You'd have to watch the cameras like a hawk because they would hide in the blind spot outside the doors and wait until you had your guard down," he vented. There wasn't a shred of humor or exaggeration in his voice. "Apparently they weren't so friendly once they were off the clock."

"That's insane," Charlie said. "Do you know what was causing them to do that? Was it a problem with programming that never got fixed?"

"Yeah, I know exactly what it was," the man said with a deadly serious look. "They were haunted."

Charlie gave a half-laugh to humor him and it wasn't until she saw his look remain that she realized he wasn't joking. She gave a doubtful half-smile. "I don't think they were _haunted_ , just poorly programmed."

"What do you call an animatronic that gets up on its own and walks around without any power being supplied to it?" the man bluntly asked. That was enough to drop her smile.

"Well… They must've had a power source of some kind. Obviously not the typical kind, but if they ran on batteries that were charged afterhours-."

"Unless they were plugging themselves into an outlet outside my door that wasn't happening. As far as I knew, nobody was repairing them, they were never plugged in, and they didn't shut off. You couldn't shut them off if you tried. And trust me, I tried. I got fired for it too, so I consider it was a win-win in my book," he explained. He sent another glance back at Freddy's front doors. "I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it firsthand and I've got a feeling it's just the tip of the iceberg."

It was hard to believe something that sounded this outlandish. While Charlie believed in things like an afterlife- it was a comfort she held since her father's passing- she had a hard time believing in the concept of ghosts roaming around and haunting people. Especially if they were haunted animatronics who spooked people inside of a closed down pizzeria. It sounded too much like the plot of a horror movie to be real.

…Or that's what the more logical part of Charlie's brain said. The less logical part was suddenly looking back at the countless missing children and numerous accidents in a new light. Something about it fit together too well and went along with the slew of coverups that she had discovered. She came to a disturbing conclusion.

"If this is true…You're not saying that you think the animatronics were behind all of the people who disappeared, are you?" Charlie asked. The server considered this for a long moment as he stared blankly across the parking lot, then spoke again.

"I don't know. All I know is that they covered up the death of at least one other employee. Who's to say there weren't more that they blamed on "accidents"?... Suddenly paints the "Bite of 87" in a whole new light."

Charlie didn't know if it was the same event, but she immediately thought of the boy in the newspaper. A tragic mistake now looked much more insidious. The server looked back at the restaurant in time to see that final family coming out the front door. He straightened up from the car.

"I've got to go. Here," he said and handed her a napkin. "Do me a favor and call me if you find anything. Just don't tell anyone we had this talk, alright? As shady as Freddy's is, I need this job."

Charlie agreed and looked down at the napkin to see his phone number and name, which was apparently Schmidt. He turned to head back towards the restaurant, regaining the phony smile of someone who just got a date instead of someone who just spilled confidential secrets in the parking lot. She almost let him go before she suddenly got another realization. She hurried after him.

"Hey, wait," she called. He stopped and turned back towards her questioningly, and she barely faked a strained smile for the camera. Her unease was starting to leak through the cracks. "The animatronics… Are the ones here like the ones from the old restaurant…?" He knew exactly what she was asking.

"The Rockstars? Nah, they're clean. I don't work the night shift anymore but you can just tell." He then got an uneasy look. "…But I've got my suspicions about Lefty. Normal bots don't break down that much, and I swear I've seen him watching me from across the room… I don't know. That I might be imagining. I have been known to hallucinate from caffeine withdrawal." He watched the family cross the parking lot before turning back to her, tipping his hat, and giving a basic, "Take it easy."

Schmidt headed back inside. It was like the conversation had never happened. Nobody would be the wiser.

Charlie now noticed the security camera beside the door and that it was focused right at her, unsure if it had always been like that. It spurred her into her car and she drove out of the parking lot before she could look anymore suspicious. Now driving she had a few moments to think.

" _He could've been making that up… But I don't think he was. He looked too nervous about someone finding out… Like that man in the Freddy head."_ Just the thought of the suited man made her want to shudder. Freddy's was definitely hiding something under all the child-friendly rebranding. It could've been these defective and aggressive animatronics. _"But it's not possible for animatronics to just go rogue and attack people. They only follow programming… Unless someone was programming them to be aggressive."_

If someone was working a control panel from nearby and somehow fueling the animatronics on their own time, then they could've been manipulating the bots to torment Schmidt. In fact, that would've made sense with all of the accidents, the bites, and the missing children. Except not with Sammy's disappearance. Charlie remember that rabbit; he walked and moved like a human. A human who could've been hiding behind a control panel otherwise, explaining why he was never caught.

As far as she knew, he could still be working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza even now. He could even be the man in the Freddy head.

Suddenly Charlie didn't feel comfortable returning to the library to research. It was already dark out anyway so she decided to head home. This had been eye opening, a far reach from hanging out with her friends. She would have to be more careful if she was planning on taking such risks. Tomorrow she would return to the library.

" _I wonder if the diner is still standing… Tomorrow I'll find the address and go see if it's still there. I should do the same for Circus Baby's,"_ she thought. This decision seemed sound enough. _"…John said he wanted to do something tomorrow. It might not be what he was expecting, but maybe he'll be willing to come with me. As awkward as that would be."_

With this plan, she arrived at the house and headed inside to finish out her night.

* * *

_Charlie awoke unexpected and found herself lying in a vent shaft. It was so jarring that she pushed herself upright too quickly and hit her head on the roof of it. It didn't hurt, it just felt like ice against the top of her head. All of the metal was chilled. It felt like the wall of a freezer against her fingertips and yet she shivered more from dread than cold._

" _Where am I?" she wondered. The last thing she remembered was that she was supposed to be at home. She suspected it had something to do with Freddy's. "…Was I kidnapped?"_

_A low groan echoed through the vent behind her and Charlie felt very uneasy. With no other options, she began to crawl forward down the shelf. She pulled her sleeves over her hands to try and block the cold, but it only seemed to grow more stifling. She could see her breath on the air, in the strange ethereal glow that surrounded only her and turned to darkness only a few feet ahead. She had no idea where she was going._

_Still she blindly pressed on into the darkness. It wasn't very long before she started to hear a noise up ahead and paused. It sounded like something else crawling in the vent._

" _Maybe I should turn back…" Charlie started to slide back the way she came before hearing a loud_ _ **thunk**_ _. She looked back and in that dull glow she realized that the vent had been blocked by a small door just past her feet. There was no turning back now and she kicked at it with her foot. "Hello? Is anyone there?!" she called back. "Somebody's in here!"_

_Her answer wasn't anything that she wanted because she heard whatever else was in the vent began to crawl towards her a little more quickly. Charlie looked forward into the darkness yet again. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she stared frozen ahead. She didn't think she could move even if she tried as she listened to it inch closer, and closer…_

_And then a hand reached from the darkness and landed right before her. Rotten fabric wore away to reveal bones underneath. A human inside of a costume. She raised her head slowly as the rest of the body pulled into view. She came face to face with the dead stare of a soulless, decaying corpse barely hidden under a torn rabbit suit._

_It reached for her and a shrill cry echoed through the vent._

Charlie woke up with a start and shot up in bed. Her hands were gripping the edge of her blanket tightly, she was already breaking into a sweat, and as the night before she had that same moment of dissonance where she couldn't tell where she was. She recovered quicker this time, but only because of the ringing of her cellphone from the bedside table. No doubt it had woken her up.

She reached over for the cellphone and only then realized that the clock read six-thirty in the morning. Too early for any of her friends to be calling. She still answered with a cautious, "Hello…?"

" _Is this Charlotte Emily?"_

Maybe it was because she was already on edge but the voice rolled a chill down her back. It technically sounded normal, but there was an hollow tone to it. Like it was echoing through a jug to reach the receiver.

"Yes, that's me… Who is this?"

" _I could be anyone with how easily you have given your name out. You should be more careful. People who ask or tell too much tend to stop doing so if they stay in this town too long."_

She couldn't tell if it was a threat or a warning. "Is this Michael Afton?" she asked.

" _I am a concerned citizen. Let's leave it at that,"_ he replied. _"How much have you found out about Freddy Fazbear's Pizza?"_

"You were just scolding me about giving out information, but alright. Since you went through the effort to call me…" Charlie exhaled patiently and explained. "Freddy Fazbear's was involved in a slew of unsolved disappearances and accidents that were covered up... Including the death and disappearance of the owners. The animatronics might've been malfunctioning, or they were programmed to appear that way."

" _That is a good guess. You're the first person I've heard bring up that theory, that someone would be making the animatronics act how they do to cover something else. You must've thought about this for a while."_

"I've had the time… Can I ask you something?" Charlie was now wide awake as she flicked on her bedside lamp. "If you're not going to tell me who you are, then will you at least tell me why you're calling?"

" _Consider this your one and only warning that you are in over your head. You might think that you want to know these things, but what you are doing by digging up this information on Freddy's is putting yourself in danger. Along with any chance you have of getting away from this town. I know what you walked away from, Charlotte, and I can tell you that what is hiding at Freddy's is not worth it."_

It felt like she was being lectured, but what was worse was that everything being said was completely true. Charlie couldn't argue with it; she knew she was already stepping off the deep end going back to the pizzeria. Yet when given the option to walk away she found that she couldn't. So she gave him her answer.

"I don't think I can just walk away from this. Danger or not."

He didn't sound pleased, just tired. _"What do you hope to find? Delving into the past won't fix your family. It won't bring your father back."_

He knew who she was. He couldn't have just gotten her note- if he did at all- but knew what she and Schmidt had been talking about. Either Schmidt told someone what she said, which was possible but unlikely… Or this man had been listening... This could be the man in the Freddy head. This could be William Afton himself.

That realization made her choke on her words momentarily, but she recovered and decided to bait the water with her words. "One of the last things my father wrote was that he had found my brother. That's what I'm hoping to find, my brother." The voice on the phone was silent. "…But I'm not stupid. I know I'm not going to find him alive after all these years… But I need to know what he found."

" _Right, your missing twin. I know about him. His name was Sam, right?"_ Charlie didn't answer but her lack of correction gave one for her. The man on the line lowered his voice, making it sound even more inhuman. _"Henry wasn't the only person to lose a son."_

"I know. I know about the missing children."

" _I'm not talking about the missing children. I'm talking about William Afton. I figured you would be interested, seeing as you've been asking about him,"_ the man tempted. He paused for effect before he explained, _"William also had a young son who went missing before Henry's did."_

"What?" Charlie couldn't help but blurt out. "I didn't know about that. Why wasn't that in the newspapers?"

" _You should know by now that William wasn't like Henry. He never reported his son missing and told those closest to him that he sent him away to stay with his grandparents. It was the perfect excuse. William's youngest son was very sickly. All throughout his childhood he struggled to thrive, having little to no immune system. When he told those who asked that he sent his son to live up north, somewhere cooler with less people, they believed him. After all, he didn't sound concerned…"_ The man's voice darkened. _"He always knew where he was."_

"…I'm guessing this is a silly question, but did they ever find him?" Charlie cautiously asked.

" _As a matter of fact, he came home after a few years. No pomp and circumstance, he was just suddenly brought home…"_ The man's voice grew more melancholy. _"As sick as he was, he always had such a bright smile. Always so happy even though his homelife was less than ideal… He came back terrified of everything. He had nightmares, he cried constantly, was always afraid. Wherever he had really been, he had gone through something terrible."_

"That's… Horrible," Charlie said. "…To play devil's advocate, you're certain he didn't just go stay with his grandparents and the circumstances were… Less than ideal?"

" _My- Ahem… My understanding is that the grandparents were simple folk who lived quiet lives. They didn't even have a television… But they were kindly. Living with them would've done him good. No, William was the one with problems. He was the one surrounded by this wave of misfortune, and he seemed to revel in it. Every time something went wrong he used it to his advantage."_

"What do you mean?"

" _He used to use the publicity of the missing children to get more business. He used to use broken animatronics as scapegoats while he kept cleaner, more efficient, much more dangerous ones on stage. He was, with no exaggeration,_ _ **a monster**_ _."_ For a second it was like a completely different voice had said that. One deeper and emptier, but she didn't have time to ask. _"But I digress."_

"What was the name of William's son? The one who disappeared. Was that Michael?"

" _No, but I would rather not say, knowing how you have been seeking out information. It's best if this matter is left alone."_

"Can I at least talk to him? If this is about discretion I can be more discrete. Today-… Yesterday was an exception. I started to get desperate."

" _I'm afraid he's not… With us anymore."_ Charlie was struck down in one sentence. She was surprised even though the boy had been described as so sickly. Except then the man clarified, _"There was an… Accident... With one of the animatronic."_

"Wait, was he the boy who was bit? That was William's son?" Charlie blurted out.

" _God, you're quick. Why am I even talking to you?"_ He huffed in restrained annoyance. _"Yes, it was a bite. One of the many bites at Freddy's. Are you happy?"_ She didn't answer that, hoping it could get across how unimpressed she was at his outburst. _"…That was out of line. It's still a sore subject."_

"No, I understand. I know what it's like to lose… People close to you," Charlie assured, somewhat embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I'm half asleep and that was tasteless. I didn't mean anything by it."

" _It's fine. That bite still haunts all of us who were around to see it…"_ He paused once more, but this time something seemed to change. Something about her wording must've convinced him to open up. _"…Don't research into it. I'll tell you what you need to know but only if you do not look into it any further. And I will know if you do."_

"I promise," she agreed. After all, she had a feeling that she had already inadvertently looked up the bite. That newspaper printout was still looming in her bookbag. "What happened?"

"… _There is no proper obituary or death certificate from what I know. This was because William pulled some strings- he always had strings he could pull- and had him taken out of the hospital and brought home. He had already been declared brain dead so nobody was willing to fight. They sent him home to die... Everyone stood there and let him die..."_

"I'm so sorry."

" _Yes, well… This is just one of the reasons why you shouldn't keep doing what you're doing. These things don't need to be dragged back up for public scrutiny, to open old wounds while your life is wrecked before it has even begun. What happens once you get arrested for trespassing? Or, God forbid, someone in the media takes interest in your story and puts it out there, branding your name for life with Fazbear Entertainment's."_

This time his point made its mark. It wasn't that nobody knew what was going on; people did know and yet nobody knew enough to do anything about it. Meanwhile children disappeared by the dozens and in some cases they hadn't even been reported. With all this hiding, how was she supposed to find her brother? He could've been taken somewhere she would never find and she had no leads. Even this man who knew so much seemed to know nothing about her brother, save the basic information.

Worse still, what would she do if she did find Sammy? Tell Clay certainly, but would he reopen the cases? What if he just filed the body away and nothing else was solved? Then her work would be for nothing and she would have to live with what she knew but couldn't prove. If this man aimed to make her uncertain in, he accomplished it.

" _I do understand what you're trying to do. I know you want to make this right, but soon enough Freddy's will be nothing but a distant memory, I assure you."_

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked.

" _Freddy's will be closing its doors soon, but don't let that encourage you to go there. Just let it fade out of existence and move on. Don't try to look for the other locations. Don't go to Afton Robotics under any circumstances. Just… Let it be. Everything that can be done has been done. All you can do is move on before it takes anything more from you."_

"…I guess you're right." She sat there in the dark silence of her old bedroom. "Thank you for telling me about this. This has given me a lot to think about."

" _Then I'll let you go. Try to get some sleep, I think we both sorely need it,"_ he said. _"…Goodbye, Charlie."_

"Goodbye, Michael."

Without another word or any reaction, he hung up the phone, and suddenly Charlie was left in the silence again. She sat there thinking about what he had said for a long time and tried to think of her next move, but none came to mind. His words had their desired effect; she was beginning to doubt herself.

"What do I do now?" she asked herself. She looked across the room before her eyes landed on Theodore sitting at the foot of her bed. He stared at her, body slumped to the side, eyes blank and unstaring. "Burn the letter? Forget about all of this and go back to school, pretending like I don't know anything about this?... Maybe Dad's letter really was a warning. That there's nothing left for me here…"

It was a strangely upsetting thought. It felt like she had wasted so much time. Going all this way to find answers- to find _anything_ \- to get a credible lead and then have it tell her that she needed to stay out of it. That there was nothing she could do and that it wasn't worth trying. She knew that was Michael on the phone and from his tone he sounded like he had experience in what she was doing. Like he too had searched for answers and dug up nothing. Deciding in the end to give up, return to his life, and forget Freddy's.

But there was something that he slipped into the end of his conversation that stood out. Something she only now thought back on.

"Don't go to Afton Robotics… I guess that means that there was a building and that it must still be around here. It could still be open." Charlie started to feel herself slip back into suspicion as she tried to read between his words. _"What if William's still involved with Afton Robotics? If he's as… Suspicious as everyone's been saying then that could be the real reason Michael's trying to stop me. Because I could be putting myself in danger. With what he said about his dad, I don't think he'd protect him."_

Now she was completely torn. A new lead, a very risky lead, and a much more firm warning were laid out for her. Though now Charlie was much less confident in finding the location, let alone finding anything once she got there. Just her getting a view from the parking lot. That was summing up this entire investigation; her staring from the outside in, barely able to see past the foggy glass.

Charlie knew that at this rate she wasn't going to get an answer from herself so she made a new plan. There was only one place left to turn.

Tomorrow she was going to come clean to her friends. She was going to need their help.


	5. Confession

Charlie was dreading her friends' arrival to the house. All because she knew that she had to tell them the truth.

It wasn't that she didn't want to tell them, but that she wasn't looking forward to their reactions. She could already imagine their faces when they found out that she snuck back to Freddy's alone. Or that she had been looking for her father's former business partner and possible criminal. Or anything involving the letter that brought her here.

That would be the worst part, confessing that she didn't just blow into town to see them but for a further purpose. She could already imagine how disappointed Marla would be when she found out. As much as Jessica and John knew they didn't know everything, and she dreaded having to tell them that she hadn't been fully outright with them either. But it was time to be honest and it was time to hear their replies.

Being that there wasn't a couch, Charlie had to gather the chairs from around the house and plop them in the living room. There were four dining room chairs arranged in an imperfect circle and the armchair scooted in closer, making it look uncomfortably like she was setting it up for an intervention. _"Yeah, my own,"_ she had thought, jokingly, in passing. She hoped that wasn't going to bite her in the backside later.

There was a knock on the door and she snapped to alert. _"That's them. Here we go…"_ She took a deep breath as she approached the front door and put on a smile as she opened it. "Hey, glad you could make it."

"And miss getting a look at all your work? There's no way we'd miss it!" Marla chirped. Of course she was the first one there, along with both Jessica and Carlton. She began to look around as Charlie let them in. "I don't know what it looked like beforehand, but it's way cleaner than I thought. Jessica was acting like it was wall to wall cobwebs."

"It nearly was before we dusted. I told you we should've taken before and after pictures," Jessica joked to Charlie. She then got that familiar smile. "How was dinner last night?" That coy tone gave away that Marla had told her s _omething_. If they hadn't directly planned the double date stunt together in the first place.

"Great. I can't remember the last time I've had barbeque even half as good," Charlie said. She thought dodging the answer Jessica wanted would be proper revenge and was amused by her slight pout.

"Oh, come on. You know that's not what I mean," Jessica goaded. Before she could press further she was interrupted by Carlton collapsing in the armchair. He folded his arms behind his head and leaned back.

"Comfy?" Marla teased. He got a twitch of a smirk.

"More than those, yeah," he said, glancing towards the loop of dining room chairs. She looked at them and her face slowly fell.

"…We need to get some bean bags in here or something."

"Hey!" Lamar greeted as he let himself in. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing yet. We just got here too," Jessica said. Then she turned to Charlie with a curious look and a typical smile. "So, what's the plan? You said there was something you wanted to talk about?"

"Yeah… Let's just wait until John gets here, then I'll explain what's going on… Don't give me that look. We all need to be here." Jessica got that coy smile again and Charlie returned with an unenthused frown. Jessica waved dismissively to show that she was joking and took a seat on one of the chairs.

John appeared only a few minutes later and the second he walked in Charlie felt her nerves getting to her again. Not from him but from what she was about to do, and she waited until everyone looked settled in. John offered her the last chair but she turned him down, instead deciding to stay standing, and steadied herself before she began.

"Guys, there's something I haven't told you. About what I've been doing when we haven't been together. I wish I could say that I've just been fixing up the house but obviously that's not the case," Charlie tried to joke. There was a few amused looks but mostly they were just watching and listening, wondering why she sounded so uneasy. "The truth is, I've been researching into Freddy's."

Nobody seemed surprised- especially not Jessica, John, or Carlton- but she knew that would soon change.

"And so far I've been finding out some very disturbing things about it, and not just the current one. Going back to the diner I can find dozens of accidents and disappearances. Children were going missing as far back as when we used to play there… It wasn't just Sammy. There were plenty of others."

"I heard about that," Marla admitted. She looked concerned. "Wasn't there five of them?"

"Yeah. They went missing at a birthday party at the pizzeria," Lamar agreed. He shook his head. "It was terrible. They had a curfew and there were safety talks in school about stranger danger and all of that."

"Except it wasn't just five kids. There were a lot more. I don't even know how many because they stopped reporting them. Then there were the accidents. There's one that I think they call 'the Bite' where a boy was bitten by an animatronic… And then died shortly afterwards." This was the first thing to get a look of horror out of Jessica. "And it's like they've been erased over the years, or just forgotten and lost to time."

"Never forgotten," John chimed in. Charlie looked to him questioningly and he got a much more solemn look. "…A friend of mine went missing at Freddy's."

" _What?_ " Carlton sat up straighter in his armchair. "When did this happen? You never said anything about this!"

"It was a long time ago. Right around the time that… Just before we lost contact." Before Henry died, he meant. "Wasn't much to say. There was a playground close to Freddy's where we used to play, because my parents didn't want me going to the pizzeria alone. But Joe- that was his name- he used to go there all the time. He'd use his allowance to buy junk food and would come out with cake or candy, usually a balloon… Then one day Joe stopped appearing on the playground… A few days later the police came by and asked all of us if we had seen anything. They never found him."

"Oh John, I'm so sorry," Jessica apologized. Her eyes fell to the floor. "It's like that place was cursed. Everyone who went there lost someone."

"And it seemed fine while we were still going. Do any of you remember anything weird happening when we were playing there?" Lamar asked. He caught sight of Marla's cringe and then remembered who he was asking and looked to Charlie with a regretful look. "Uh… Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant we didn't see anything when we were kids."

"No, it's fine. It's okay. We can talk about Sammy," Charlie assured. She slowly crossed her arms. "…In fact, I'm glad you brought him up because he's a big part of this and why I've been doing this… Before I came back, I got a letter that looked like it was sent by my father telling me to move on and forget Freddy's. So, genius that I am, I came back here and started looking through my dad's office. I found this folder he was using to track his progress on looking for Sammy and at the end of it he left this entry that said he found him."

"Wait, what?" Jessica asked in surprise. "Okay, that was definitely not in the letter. What do you mean he found Sammy?"

"That's just it. That's all it said. I don't know when he wrote it but it couldn't have been long before his death… Which I've also been looking into and now with this message that he found Sammy, and with the fact that he never found his body, I'm starting to think that something else happened here. I tried to look up his old business partner, William Afton, and Carlton found out that he was a suspect with the missing children incident and that he fled the city after Dad died."

"You didn't say anything about that!" Marla said to Carlton in surprise. "Did your dad tell you that?!"

"…Mostly. He said it without saying it," Carlton vaguely answered. She gave him a flat look.

"…You climbed into your dad's office again, didn't you?"

"Pretty much," Carlton said, amused. Though this was short lived as he grew more serious. "Charlie's right, this Afton guy was really shady. Even my dad thought he was involved but couldn't prove it. The only person who'd know anything is his son Michael. My dad had his phone number and address and I gave it to her…" He slowly looked back towards Charlie. "Did you get ahold of him?"

"We went by his apartment after dinner, but he's missing too," John revealed. More shock, unsurprisingly. "And his phone line is dead which, in hindsight, makes the fact that he's missing a lot more suspicious. Either way we couldn't track him down."

"…Actually, we did. Or he did. He called me this morning," Charlie revealed. John looked to her in confusion and she looked guilty. "…But I think the only reason he did was because I went back to Freddy's last night." She turned back to the others to avoid seeing his reaction, or disappointment. "I talked to the guy who served us. The one with the dark hair."

"The guy who really didn't want to be there and smelled like a walking Christmas tree. Sounds like a credible source," Carlton chimed in doubtfully.

"I wasn't expecting much, but it turns out that he used to work as a night guard at one of the pizzerias, and he said that the animatronics used to walk around at night. He thought they were haunted."

"Haunted?" Marla asked, scrunching up her face.

"I know it sounds unbelievable, but bear with me. He said they used to try to get into his office at night and were acting aggressive, and he believes that was behind the accidents. So, I was thinking that this could be one of two things- and I do believe him. Either the animatronics are haunted like he thinks, or someone is programming them to do this. That would be much more reasonable," Charlie explained, becoming worked up in the process. "And we know that William built bots because he had a company called Afton Robotics."

"You think he did it?" John asked in surprise. At least he sounded like he believed her.

Lamar was a bit more skeptical. "I don't know. That kind of seems like a stretch. Didn't you say this guy left town?"

"We don't know where he is, but he could still be involved in Afton Robotics. When I talked to Michael he made a point of telling me not to go there, so he might suspect he's still there… And from what Michael said, he thinks William was capable of doing something like this. He told me this story about his brother… The long and short of it was that William can't be trusted."

"What else did he say? Did he say where he's been?" John asked.

"No… He wouldn't tell me much about him. He just warned me not to get involved, but I already am involved." Charlie's compositor started to slip. "How am I supposed to walk away now that I know all of this? How can I even know that the letter wasn't just someone's attempt to keep me from finding out the truth? As it is, my dad's still one of the main suspects and he can't even defend himself."

"I think Dad knows he didn't do it, but if you're talking the public… Yeah, there's probably a few people who think he did. You know, with the timing and all," Carlton said. He was uncomfortable being put on the spot but went along with it. He shrugged defensively, "But what do they know?"

"I'm starting to wonder why they thought it was suicide in the first place. Who was it who told them my dad was suicidal? William? My mom? Aunt Jen?" Charlie gave a huff of indignation. "My dad was a genius. He figured took his life and learned to teleport in the same day." Carlton twitched from amusement but reined it in. Especially when Jessica suddenly raised her hands.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, hold up a second." She stood from her chair and faced Charlie dead on, and she looked just as disappointed as the young woman expected her to be. "Are you saying that you heard all of this, that there's animatronics attacking people and people going missing, and that you believe the man responsible for it is still running around, and you still went back to Freddy's _alone_?!" She looked devastated. "Charlie, you could've gotten yourself killed! If it's true, and if not you could've gotten yourself into serious trouble."

"I know. I'm sorry. I know it was a bad move, but it was a spur of the moment thing. That's why I'm telling you now," Charlie said apologetically. Jessica's face fell from scolding to concerned. "…But that's not the only reason I'm telling you now." Jessica looked more worried as Charlie revealed, "The truth is… I'm going to find Afton Robotics and see what's left of it, and I wanted all of you to come with me."

"What?" Jessica gasped. "But that's- But you said yourself that he's dangerous. And I just said-."

"I know. I understand the risks involved, but that's the only place I have left to look. That was the only place that Michael mentioned specifically and I think that means there's something there." Jessica looked to be in disbelief, fumbling with words to argue. Charlie beat her to it, lowering her voice and admitting, "I know there's something going on. The disappearances, the pizzeria, the letter; it all means something, I just don't have all the pieces yet. There's something I'm missing."

"But you're talking about breaking into public property, and going after this- this guy!" The blond looked to her friends desperately. "Somebody back me up."

"Just for a point of reference, what do you think you're going to find?" Lamar asked. "Like, incriminating evidence? Records or receipts, or these bots that were attacking people?"

Charlie was somewhat taken aback by the question because she wasn't sure how to answer it. "I don't know… All I know is that dad found something somewhere and I need to find it." With a slow exhale she sat down in Jessica's chair, as the woman was still pacing around. "I feel like I'm the only person who hasn't forgotten about Sammy. Just last night I had a nightmare about the rabbit that took him… Or I think it was…" She looked to the others. "Did… I ever tell any of you about the rabbit?"

Marla gave a confused 'no' and both Carlton and Lamar shook their heads. John tried to think about it but couldn't seem to remember.

"Yeah. Yeah, I remember the rabbit," Jessica admitted. She crossed her arms worriedly and came to stop beside her chair. "I don't even know why I remember that but you told me once that you saw Bonnie take Sammy. I guess I just assumed it was a dream?... I probably didn't think much of it. Kids don't really read too much into that…" Jessica quietly asked, "You can still remember when your brother was taken?"

It was natural to feel self-conscious when it involved something so intimate. Something that, for years, had been a taboo around Charlie. These passing comments about Sammy were the first she had made in years and now here she was amongst her friends preparing to tell them even more. It almost felt like she was doing something wrong She didn't want them to pity her but wanted to tell someone after all this time.

If she had learned anything in these last few days, it was that they were still her friends and she could trust them. So, she began to tell them about that horrible day.

"Sammy and I were playing around in the back when we were found by Bonnie. Normally we liked being around Freddy and Bonnie. They were so warm and friendly, even when they were acting on stage. They felt like old friends, like family members…" Her face grew firm. "…But Bonnie was different than usual. He was so quiet. Just came up to us and stared, like he was looking for something. I don't remember exactly what I was thinking but I must've been confused. But not afraid, because it was Bonnie."

"…But then Bonnie reached for us and grabbed Sammy. He moved so slowly, so gently, that it almost seemed normal as he pulled him away from me. He turned and carried Sammy out of the room, and that was it. Sammy was gone… A part of me has always wondered why I didn't do something. If I felt so strange why I didn't cry or scream before he grabbed Sammy? I don't blame myself… But I just don't understand. I still feel like I let it happen… And in a way, I feel like finding Sammy, even if it is his remains, will fix that. It's the only thing I can fix."

Charlie closed her eyes tightly as she finished. "…And I still miss my brother. I barely remember him but sometimes I get this feeling like something's missing. This deep pit that can't be filled."

"Oh, Charlie." Jessica bent over and pulled her into a tight hug. There came the embarrassment again, but this time it was rivaled by the comfort of being consoled. Nobody had done that in years. Largely because Charlie hadn't allowed herself to become vulnerable, guarding her feelings and thoughts. But it was different this time. "You didn't do anything wrong. You were just a kid, how were you supposed to stop it?"

"You weren't," John added in. He sounded irritated, but it was definitely not at Charlie. "You two were a couple of toddlers, someone was supposed to be watching you and protecting you. That's not your fault. That's the fault of whoever wasn't keeping an eye on you."

"I know that, it's just a feeling I can't stop," Charlie admitted quietly. "I know that logically I couldn't have done anything. He could've taken either one of us… He just happened to take Sammy."

Marla caught this comment and stood from her chair. Carlton looked to her questioningly as she carried it closer so she could sit in front of the brunette. She reached out and took her hand.

"I think I know what you're going through. Not from experience, but I've heard that when people survive tragedies- like plane crashes or car wrecks- they feel guilty that they're the one who survived. They wonder why they're the ones that came out alright and start questioning their survival," Marla said as she squeezed Charlie's hand. "It's okay to miss your brother and it's normal to feel bad that he was taken. You don't have to make up for it…" She paused a moment, biting her lip, and then added, "And… You're not alone. We're here for you."

Charlie didn't know why this was what started to push her over the edge. A dull stinging began in her eyes and she refused to blink to stave it off. She was stronger than this. Sammy's disappearance was years ago, she didn't want them to see her broken up. She smiled somberly but honestly.

"Thank you. I… I really appreciate it, and I'm sorry I dragged you all into this… I'll be right back. I just need a minute." Marla and Jessica both released her and she stood. She fumbled an excuse, "I just remembered that there's a chair in the office. Let me just get it…"

They could see right through it, but they understand on that front too and let her leave the room. Even John who watched her go almost reluctantly. He considered following, but was cut off by Jessica.

"We _can't_ let her go to this place. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen," she whispered with borderline panic.

"I second that. She wasn't exaggerating about Afton being shady if my dad's notes are any example," Carlton chimed in. "But what are we going to do? We can't just tell her no, right?"

"We can try to convince her not to go. I'm sure we can get through to her if we're rational about all of this."

"I think she's more strong willed than you think," John said. "Charlie's not just doing this for the sake of revisiting Freddy's. She's doing this for her family and with that driving her I don't think we're going to be able to just tell her to stop and let it go… Especially when she raises a few good points about Freddy's."

"You think Henry was murdered too? Or do you mean about the accidents at the pizzeria?" Carlton asked.

"I think it's very strange that this many people disappeared and nobody found them. Including Henry. I think it's even more strange that the police have never done anything about this and Freddy's has been allowed to reopen countless times without any backlash from the community," John said. He then got a much colder tone to his voice, "I'm starting to wonder if that really was Michael on the phone with her. It could've been William and he would've had all the same answers."

"That's more of a reason to keep her from going," Jessica persisted. She would need him to be on board to convince Charlie, especially now that she knew he had already been sleuthing with her. She knew that he had a point though and bit her lip anxiously. "I don't know. Maybe I should call Jen…"

"Whoa. Don't do that," Marla suddenly interjected. Her quick response surprised everyone and all eyes were on her again. She looked around at them quickly before defending herself, "Jen can be a little… I mean, she's really nice, but I don't think it would be good to get her involved."

"What are you talking about? Charlie said that her aunt and her were close. Maybe if we told her what Charlie said- about missing her dad and Sammy, not the whole William thing- then they can finally talk things out. From what Charlie's said, they've never really had a chance to do so," Jessica said. Marla gave her what looked between a forced smile and a restrained grimace.

"Jen… Doesn't really handle stuff like this well. She's all into letting things go and moving on, and not talking about it ever again. Didn't you ever wonder why Charlie just up and disappeared? When Charlie went to go stay with Jen, she took her out of school and homeschooled her, totally refused to come to Hurricane for any reason, and pretty much shut down any conversation about her dad or Freddy's. Charlie's an adult now, but I don't know, if Jen tells her to leave and never come back then maybe she will. We could never see her again!"

"That… Seems a little extreme," Carlton chimed in. Marla frowned at him.

"Okay, here's a better example: Jen owns this house. What if she doesn't let Charlie stay here anymore? She's been trying to get rid of it for years. If she found out about all this you know she'd find a way."

That changed Jessica's mind instantly. She knew how much Charlie loved this house from how much effort she had gone through to fix it up. Even with the lack of furniture she could look around and see their work. As worried as she was for Charlie's safety she wasn't about to take this away from her. Though this meant that she didn't know what else to do.

It was then that someone else chimed in and raised a very good question.

"Do we even know where this place is? Or if it's still open?" It was Lamar, the one who had stayed quiet and listened to everyone else's opinions before giving his own. They all shared a similar realization and after a pause he shrugged. "Then what are we freaking out about? Chances are that the place was shut down and turned into something else already. It's no big deal."

"I'd say this is a pretty big deal," John corrected.

"No, just hear me out. What are the chances that William is still hiding out in town? You know if he's involved in any of this then he left years ago and didn't look back. Probably changed his name, took the money from Freddy's, and high-tailed it out of the country. I'd say he's probably not a danger anymore. All Charlie's doing is looking for answers, it just sounds dangerous to us because we're just hearing about all this shady stuff."

"But what about Michael?" Jessica asked.

"Probably wasn't Michael. Probably wasn't William either. It was probably that guy from the restaurant," Lamar pointed out. "Either as some sick joke or because he actually believes this."

"I don't know if it's a prank. Something about this all feels too clean cut…" John trailed off and was lost in his thoughts again, so Lamar finished.

"My point being that, sure, we can try to convince Charlie not to go, but if she still wants to then let's just go with her. It'll probably be a building that's already being used for something else, but just seeing it and knowing there's nothing there is going to do better than having her think she's missing something. She's looking for closure here."

The others couldn't really argue with this, and it wasn't like they had much of a choice. They waited for Charlie to return, Jessica with baited breath, and hoped they could do something to help their friend.

Meanwhile, Charlie had just needed a moment away from them to pull herself together. She managed to suppress the threat of tears and then went to get the office chair. It was while she was standing behind the desk that her eyes drifted to the photo album laying on it. She sighed and opened it to a random page.

The first photo her eyes landed on was of her and Sammy in a kiddie pool in the front yard. She was standing up in it, mid-hop, while Sammy was sitting in it with a turtle toy in his hand. Beside the pool, their mother stood with a water hose. Her thump pressed over the tip to make it spray like a mist over the toddlers, which was probably why her younger self had been jumping around. Her mother was beaming; she missed that.

The next photo was one of she and her brother playing with building blocks on what looked to be their bedroom floor, save that there were more toys than what she remembered. They always played together. Painfully enough, Charlie didn't have many of these memories intact. Age had stripped them away from her.

Another picture of her with a mouth covered in what was either icing or brownie batter. A picture of Sammy in the bathtub with a beaming smile and rosy cheeks. One of him and her sitting in their father's lap. Then she flipped to the next page and found herself staring at something she didn't anticipate.

The picture was of her, her father, and Sammy along with another family consisting of a man and three children. They looked to be standing outside the diner if the bear cutout in the background was any indication.

There was nothing that inherently stood out about the other family at first until she slowly realized that the man had to be William Afton. Maybe it was that realization that biased her, but something seemed sinister about the man. His smile seemed to wide, his gaze almost looked distant, and he was uncomfortably tall.

The three children looked normal at least. The oldest was a boy with a bored look on his face and a smile that looked forced. That had to be Michael. There was a girl with strawberry blonde hair and a much more natural smile who looked as happy as could be. The final child was a boy with brown hair and pale skin. That had to be the brother Michael mentioned, and he looked very much like the boy from the bite photo.

All this proved was that the families were close enough that William had the means to grab Sammy at any time. It was a disturbing thought and she tried to flip to the next page, ignoring the rest of the pictures, looking for a quick distraction before she would return to her friends. Another happy photo to somewhat perk her up. Maybe she could even find some of the ones of her and her friends playing together.

Instead, Charlie found something that she hadn't anticipated on the next page, and it put everything into perspective.

Everyone looked over when Charlie came in with the open photo album in her hand, relieved to see her back but noticing her disturbed look. Jessica got up to greet her and to silently offer her chair again.

"Hey, there you are," she greeted with a friendly smile. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Not exactly…" Charlie admitted as she looked down at the book. "I found something while I was in the office."

"You did?" Jessica asked in confusion. She looked closer as Charlie came over to them, tilting her head slightly as she got a better look at the pictures. "Is this your family's photo album?"

"Yeah. I knew it was in there, but I didn't look at it until now… and I found _this_." She held out the album to show it to the others and pointed out a single picture. The others leaned in to look at it and had similar reactions to hers when they saw what it was.

It was a picture of Henry and the man believed to be William wearing suits that looked identical to the Freddy and Bonnie at the diner. William was wearing the _yellow rabbit suit_.

"You just found this?" Lamar asked in disbelief. Charlie nodded. He looked closer and cringed as he thought about it what this meant. "And you're totally sure that's what took Sammy?"

"I couldn't forget. It was the last time I saw him, it stuck with me," Charlie insisted. Instead of sadness or dread she could feel anger slowly building as she remembered that wide grin William had as he stood beside their family. That he could act so friendly when he later did what he did, and from how old she looked in the photos it couldn't have been much later. "There's no doubt in my mind that it was him. It all fits."

"And he's still out there somewhere," John said as he stared down at the photo with equal disgust. "We need to tell Clay."

"What's he going to do about it? He already gave up on catching this guy years ago and now he won't even talk about him unless backed into a corner. He's not going to do anything," Carlton said with a bitter edge. "I always wondered why they stopped letting me go to Freddy's. He couldn't even tell me the truth, not even when I was old enough to hear it. He just wants to forget it like everyone else in this town does."

" _And that's how he keeps getting away with it. Everyone either forgets, turns their head, or leaves town, and then when a new pizzeria opens nobody says anything. Then it starts all over again,"_ Charlie realized. She narrowed her gaze on the picture of the rabbit suited man. _"But not this time."_ She turned to Carlton without a hitch and asked, "Do you think you could find the address to Afton Robotics?"

"Wait, me?"

"You found Michael's address. If anyone's going to know where Afton Robotics is, or was, it's going to be Clay. You said yourself that asking isn't going to work."

"Well… Yeah, good point." Carlton gave a weary sigh. "You got it. I'll see if I can get it tonight."

"But you're not going alone. I'm going with you," John intervened. "If there's anything left then we're going to find."

Charlie was almost surprised by his bold offer and how reluctant she assumed everyone was. The offers didn't stop there either.

"Me too. Even if I really don't think this is a good idea," Jessica agreed warily. Marla nodded in agreement and Lamar seemed on board. Carlton was the only one who looked skeptical.

"Don't get too excited yet. Let's wait until I actually find it before we all get gung-ho about going," he reminded as he leaned back in the armchair. "Knowing Dad, he might've freaked out after I brought it up and got rid of everything."

For now they would have to wait. Charlie closed the photo album again, not wanting to look at it any longer, and only then began to feel that self-consciousness creep in again.

"Again, I'm sorry for dragging you all into this. I didn't want to monopolize what time we have together, but you see why I couldn't hide this anymore. I didn't want to keep lying," she apologized. John reached out and put a comforting arm around her back.

"Don't be. That's what we're here for," he said with a smile. She smiled back at him, both somber but reassured by it. At least they believed her. At least they were going to help her.

"…So, what now? Dad was home when I left so we've got time to kill," Carlton pointed out. This led to more strained silence, nobody entirely sure what to say now that the mood entirely shifted. It was one thing enjoying the local attractions when they were a group of friends meeting up after years. It was a whole different matter knowing there was a serial kidnapper and possible murder on the loose.

Yet somehow Marla still didn't let them down. "We could pool all our spare cash together and buy a housewarming gift. Let's say… A not-brand new but not totally trashed couch?"

So, instead of hunting down answers, the group left to hunt down a couch and did their best to pretend that everything was still normal. Charlie was more than willing to do the same because she knew needed to enjoy what time she could. She wouldn't take a moment of it for granted.

Because once she found the answers she was looking for, there was no going back.

* * *

"… _Be still… Give up…"_

_Charlie jolted upright from her slumped position on a cold wall and found herself in an unfamiliar room. It was as tight as a cell and the air was stuffy and sour. She noticed this all quickly, but none of it stood out as much as the voice she had sworn she heard. "What was that…?" She turned her head towards a nearby opening in the wall. "Hello? Is anybody there?"_

_Her legs felt like jelly as she stood and cautiously approached the tight entrance in the wall. She looked through it and saw nothing, only hearing the distant murmuring of a voice getting further and further away. She leaned into the shaft and called through, "Is someone there?!" A light appeared at the end of the shaft before rushing towards her._

_She barely avoided the flames that exploded in front of her._

Charlie shot up on her bed with a gasp. She was overly heated, wrapped in the blankets again, and just as disoriented as every other night. Just another nightmare like the others. She rubbed over her face momentarily and considered getting out of bed to splash water on her face, but then decided against it. She couldn't afford to miss sleep again. Instead she pushed down her blankets and laid down again.

"At least it's not him," Charlie muttered as she closed her eyes. She forced her body to relax, now cooled by the bedroom air, and started to count backwards. "One hundred… Ninety-Nine… Ninety-Eight… Ninety-Seven…" Slowly she started to lull herself back to sleep. "Seventy-Six… Seventy-Five… Seventy-Four…" Finally, by the end, she felt herself start to drift. "Forty-Three… Forty-Two…"

Finally she slipped back into darkness.

_And opened her eyes to a raging inferno._

_Charlie scrambled to get back from the flames slowly engulfing the wall. Heat poured out of every crack. It was stifling and consuming, suffocating and crushing, and Charlie could barely breathe. She felt compressed and trapped as she watched the fire creep closer. Muffled, distorted voices spoke and screamed around her as she stared into the blaze._

" _I've got to get out of here…" She inched back away from the fire before turning to run, but there was nowhere to run. It was just a metal wall. "Wait, there isn't- How did I get in here?!"_

_With the fire creeping at her back, she continued to look for a way out before suddenly noticing another small passage. She rushed over and dove inside, beginning to crawl through it. The metal burned around her, flames creeping around the edge of her vision, and the passage began to melt around her. It dripped onto her body and leaked down, saturating her, drenching her as she-._

_S_ hot up in bed once again. This time Charlie was drenched in sweat and her heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it would burst in her chest. She swung her legs over the edge and got up from the bed, staggered down the hall, and made her way to the bathroom. She immediately began to wash her face and within moments the heat started to release. Everything was normal again.

"What is going on?" she asked exasperatedly. There was no answer and she rubbed over her eyes.

She was still tired, she still needed to sleep, but she didn't want to return to the dream a third time. With a huff, Charlie eventually returned back to her bedroom and stood there staring at the bed. After some consideration, she turned on the beside lamp and draped her jacket over it to cut down on the light. Then Charlie laid back down on the bed and stared at the wall.

She almost hoped that she would stay awake, but slowly her mind grew muddled and she had to fight to stay awake. She finally gave in, thinking that it couldn't possibly happen again, that now that she had gotten out of bed she maybe broke the cycle. Her gaze lowered to Theodore and lingered on him until sleep overcame her.

_They were eating at the diner where she and Jessica had gotten lunch before. Her, John, Carlton, Marla, and Sammy were squeezed into a booth with a plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the table between them. Charlie would've taken one, but Carlton had grabbed two and was eating them with both hands, leaving her with none. She got the menu out intending to order something else when John spoke._

" _Why don't you get the couples' special? I'm allergic to peanuts," he said. She didn't remember him being allergic to peanuts. It said on the menu that the couples' special came with a set of matching permanent tattoos. She wasn't sure if she wanted to get one, but she supposed she owed it to him for going to Afton Robotics and helping her find Sammy._

" _Okay," Charlie agreed. She waved for a waitress. "Excuse me! Can I change my order?" But the woman didn't hear her and instead skated through a door in the back and disappeared._

_It looked like she was going to have to wait. Charlie's focus now turned on her brother sitting on the other side of John. There were so many questions that she wanted to ask him. So many things she wanted to know about his life since they were separated. She tried to lean past John and asked him, "Hey Sammy, what do you like to do now?"_

_He looked to her with foggy features but a certain smile and eagerly answered, "I play a lot of football. Its been my life since first grade." For some reason, she thought this made perfect sense._

" _Is it getting hot in here?" Marla interrupted. Charlie looked to her to see her fanning herself with the sandwich plate. "It's so hot. Can someone open a window or something?" Carlton leaned past her and patted the diner window as though he could will it to open, to no avail. "I'm burning up in here!" Marla complained._

_It was then that Charlie suddenly remembered her reoccurring dream from the night before. "You know… I had a really strange dream last night. I was in this building that…" She trailed off as her mind finished putting the pieces together. She hadn't had that dream last night, she had it just now, hadn't she?_

_It was only then that she had the fleeting realization that this too was a dream._

_All at once the fire returned with a vengeance. Suddenly the diner walls were alit with tall flames that reached the ceiling. Marla screamed, Carlton recoiled his hand from the window, now severely burned, and Charlie snapped into action. She turned to John and Sammy and started to push them out of the booth._

" _Get up! Move! We've got to get out!" Charlie cried. They listened at least and she sprung up after them. She grabbed Sammy's wrist and started running for the front door when she noticed they were alone._

_She looked back and much to her horror they were all gone and the booth was overtaken by fire. She choked on the smoke, horrified, and turned back towards the door. They had to get out but when she tried to head towards the exit she found Sammy unwilling to follow. "Sammy, come on!"_

" _I can't!" Sammy cried. She looked back to see that the cash register had fallen off the counter and landed on his foot. His ankle was twisted at a gruesome angle and his foot was full crushed. Blood pooled underneath it as he tried to rip the limb free. "Charlie, help me!" She tried to pull it off of him but it was too heavy and the metal was burning her hands. "Charlie, please!"_

" _I'm not going to leave you!" she promised as she frantically tried to roll the register off of him. It still wouldn't budge and the outside was now melting under her fingertips, making it impossible to get a grip on it._

_Just when it felt like it couldn't get any worse, she heard a jingle and slam as the front door was thrown open. For a fleeting moment Charlie thought it was help coming but then looked back to see it was far from it._

_There was the old Bonnie suit from the diner. Its eyes hollow and empty, its smile wide and filled with tiny, human-like teeth. It shuffled towards them at a sideways gait, grinning wide at its prey. Charlie started trying to push Sammy out from the mound of melted sludge that the register had become._

_The rabbit lumbered above her and reached towards her with a stained hand. It smelled rotten and it grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her towards it. It spread open its gnarled teeth, brown with decay and old fluids, and revealed a deep tunnel inside that smelled like death. Then pulled her inside._

_It was so cold inside._

Charlie didn't wake up with a start this time. She just opened her eyes and was staring at the dimly lit wall, and yet she didn't feel safe. She laid there like she was playing dead, like someone else was in the room with her, staring at the wall and waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. It was just another nightmare, the worst one she had in years.

Slowly Charlie rolled over and without even thinking about it decided that she was not going back to sleep. Thankfully, a glance at the clock showed that it was only ten minutes before she usually got out of bed. She had managed to make it through the night. She pulled her jacket off the lamp, tugged it on to stave off the chill, and made it downstairs.

There was a fog hanging over her the entire time she went through her morning routine. She couldn't think straight, not that she really wanted to. Just the faintest memory of the nightmare made her feel deeply uncomfortable. Like she was betrayed by her own mind, dangling her brother in front of her to lure her back into the night terrors. Back into the arms of that disgusting rabbit. She could barely keep her appetite.

Being that it was still early, she read in the living room to pass the time. She wasn't expecting anyone else to be ready until later and she wasn't going to push them out the door when they hadn't even gotten word from Carlton. She sunk into the armchair and lost herself in a book.

Until there was a knock at the door. This seemed out of place considering how early it was and the lack of calls, but Charlie set aside her book and peeked out the window. Much to her surprise, it _was_ Carlton. She hurried to the front door to let him in.

"Morning. I didn't expect you here so early," Charlie greeted. Carlton didn't strike her as the type to actually get up in the mornings, but then again his hair was bedraggled like he had just rolled out of bed.

"Yeah… Just thought I'd stop by and give you this," he said. He handed over a folded-up slip of paper and she opened it to find not only an address but a full list of directions written down inside.

"You found it?! Carlton, that's great! Thank you!" She looked up to him with a smile, but it faded quickly when she noticed a weird look on his face. He almost seemed uneasy. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just haven't had my usual shot of caffeine…" Carlton tried to lie, badly. It was clear from her unconvinced look that she didn't believe him. He caved quickly. "Okay, there's this thing that happened and I just… Don't freak out, okay?"

" _That can't be good_ ," Charlie thought. She immediately started to imagine the worse case scenarios; car accidents, someone went missing, someone could've died. "What happened?" she pressed.

"Don't freak out," he repeated. It was clear that he knew the weight of what he was about to say and tried to get it out as quickly as possible.

"…Freddy's burned down last night."


	6. Descent

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza had burned down. While it was still dark out it had gone up in flames. Everything had been burned to ash. _They hadn't just been nightmares._

"You okay?" Carlton asked worriedly. He expected more of a reaction than for Charlie to just stare in silent shock. She snapped out of her daze instantly.

"Yeah, I'm just a little… Here, come in," she said. She moved aside to let him in and he took a seat on her new couch. It was one they had found at a consignment shop, dull burgundy in color, and in good condition but not new. She stood alongside it as she took in the information the rest of the way then mustered up the will to ask, "Do you know what happened?"

"I know that the news says it was an electrical fire," Carlton said. Charlie nodded slowly but noticed how unconvinced he sound. Before she could ask, he quietly added, "But I know that's not what did it."

"Did your dad say that?" she asked. She wondered if this was another supposed gas leak situation.

"He didn't have to. He's been down there for hours. Him, chief of police, is investigating a fire. Something tells me this isn't just a case of faulty wiring. Hell, I don't even think this is a case of arson," Carlton admitted. He turned towards her with an even more disturbed look. "And they're not letting the press or anyone else in at all. They've got the whole crime scene closed off."

"That's not normal," Charlie said immediately. "I mean, maybe in some cases they want to secure the scene, but that doesn't sound right… Were there any deaths? Is that why they're doing that?"

"I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me at this point. Something bad went down at Freddy's. A place like that doesn't burst into flames like that- and it burned _fast!_ Like, Dad got the call around five or six, and the place was practically gone less than an hour later. The fire department couldn't even put it out. I haven't see what it looks like, but I'm thinking it's totally gone."

"I can't believe this…" Charlie was still reeling. She was already suspecting foul play and then suddenly has reoccurring nightmares about fire the same day Freddy's burns to the ground. _"Did Schmidt get out okay? Or Michael if he even-… He said it was closing soon."_ Charlie's breath caught in her throat loud enough that Carlton heard it and looked to her questioningly. "When we were talking that night, Michael said Freddy's was closing soon… That it would all be a distant memory. Like he knew this was going to happen."

"Wait a minute, you don't think that guy could've-?" Carlton cut off as he got a visibly disturbed look. He continued quieter, "You don't think that he was planning this, do you?"

"I don't know. He sounded pretty certain when he said it… Or maybe he's just used to Freddy's opening and closing right after. Some of those pizzerias closed within a couple of months," she said doubtfully. Though it would make enough sense to why he warned her not to return to Freddy's. There just wasn't enough evidence to lean either way.

"You know, John wasn't too sure that Michael was who he said he was. He said it could've been William, and we know he's up for some shady stuff," Carlton pointed out. "And I take back what I said about it being arson. There had to be an accelerant used to burn down a building that fast, and he pretty much admitted that something was going to happen."

"Or maybe the building was a fire hazard. I don't know, all I know is that I believed Michael. Usually I can tell when someone's lying to me or leaving out details. From past experience it's kind of hard not to pick up on it, and I could tell he was guarded but I never thought he was lying… I don't know. I think there's more about this that we don't know. It's too early to start pinning this on anyone."

"…Yeah, you've got a point. Alright, I trust your judgement. If anyone's the expert on the tragedies of Freddy's, it's going to be you," Carlton admitted. He tiredly slumped back on the couch. "So… Are we still going?"

"I think so. I am, but you don't have to if it's going to put you in a bad position with your dad."

"Eh, doesn't matter. I'm already disappointing my folks not going into law. What's breaking and entering going to do? Except maybe get me a rap sheet."

"That would technically get you _involved_ with law," Charlie lightly joked. He scoffed and she headed to the stairs to get her cellphone. "I'm just going to call the others and see if they're ready. It might be better to get this over just in case the cops do start looking into it themselves… Which I doubt." She couldn't help but mutter the last part under her breath. So far the cops hadn't connected the dots on any of the tragedies at Freddy's, so why would they start now?

By now Charlie was beginning to see the patterns and starting to understand that there were too many coincidences for it to just be random. Maybe that was why she had the dreams, because somehow she just knew there was going to be another disaster. That it had just been a coincidence that it had come true.

She really hoped that was the case, because if it wasn't then she could only dread what else she had seen that had been real.

* * *

The drive to Afton Robotics was awkward to say the least. Not just because they were all crammed into two cars, but because everyone kept talking about the fire. Charlie was having a little difficulty driving when Carlton was still actively bringing Lamar and Marla up to speed on what exactly happened that morning. They juggled their conspiracy theories amongst themselves, with Lamar being the voice of reason, Carlton reciting police terms he heard from his father, and Marla bouncing between both ideals.

"You're going to want to take a right up here." And Jessica being her co-pilot, watching the street signs and reading the directions to lead them there. Charlie appreciated it because she continuously drifted off into thought. She was sure she would've missed a road by now if she hadn't had the help, so she was glad that Jessica was going against her better judgement to be here.

Eventually they pulled up to a nondescript building just out of town. It looked like an unlabeled warehouse with an empty parking lot and a flimsy chain length fence blocking it from the outside world. There gate didn't block the entrance so Charlie drove right in with John's car following behind. They parked outside the front door which was held closed with a single, rusty chain and got out to look around.

"Doesn't look like anyone bought the place after it closed," Jessica said as she looked at the dismal state of the building. "Maybe because it's this far out of the way."

"Or maybe they didn't even try selling it. Maybe because of its connections to Freddy's they found it easier to leave everything and never look back," John said cryptically. Jessica nodded.

"Or maybe it's full of psycho animatronics with a taste for blood and the only thing holding them back is a couple of rickety doors and that chain," Carlton added in. This got a range of exhausted looks.

"Too soon, Carlton. You either say it when we're leaving or don't," John said flatly.

"Lighten up a little, you know there's nothing in there. I'm the one whose got to sleep in a house with Freddy Fazbear in the basement." Now Carlton got a new batch of much more befuddled looks. He partially rolled his eyes and clarified, "What, I didn't tell you? Dad's got a burned-up Freddy in the basement right now. I don't know if they ran out of room at the evidence locker or if he was just the only person stubborn enough to sleep in the same house with it."

"…Okay, I am never going back to your house again," Marla said. Then turned ahead towards the others. "Okay, so… What's the plan now? We didn't just come all this way to let that chain stop us, right?"

"It looks that way unless one of us brought bolt cutters," Charlie said. Which she knew that they didn't. John was her last hope but he made no offers to suggest he did. They would need another way in, but there weren't even any windows on the front side of the building. Maybe because she was thinking of the fire but she suddenly realized there would probably be a fire escape, a back door, one they might be able to use. "Let's go around back and see if there's another way in."

As they started to walk around the building, Jessica started to grow antsy. "We're not actually going to do anything illegal, right? I don't know about this breaking and entering thing…" she said as they walked alongside the building and through the dry grass that had grown up beside it.

"Technically if we don't actually break in it's just going to be trespassing, and considering there's nobody here probably nobody's going to know," Carlton pointed out. "And if they do it's a slap on the wrist."

"Why, think your dad will cover for us?" Lamar teased.

"More like, I think Dad's too busy playing with supersized teddy bears to care about what we're doing," he corrected. "…Now Mom? Maybe."

Charlie led the way and thus went around the corner first to look at the back of the building. There was another, smaller parking lot located back there, but that wasn't the only thing of interest. Nearly halfway down the length of the building she spotted the backdoor, and noticed it so easily because it was wide open. "Over there!" she said before breaking into a job.

"Keep an eye out for snakes! They love tall grass like this!" Marla blurted out after her. This didn't slow down Charlie, though did succeed in making Jessica grimace before she hurried along after her.

It didn't take long for Charlie to realize something was amiss. At first she thought the door was left open by sheer luck, but now she could see the damage on the frame, as though someone had viciously pried it open. From how the metal was dented in so deeply it looked like something more than what a simple crowbar would cause. She turned to Jessica who came up beside her.

"It looks like someone already broke in without us…" she said. Jessica looked over the door more closely as Charlie peered into the darkened hall inside. "It could have been Michael."

"If he needed somewhere to hide until things cooled off," John suggested as he stopped alongside them. He had a suspicious glint to his gaze as he looked at the scene then to Charlie. "He said something was going to happen to Freddy's. He could've started the fire himself and is hiding out in here." Carlton must've told him. Charlie looked towards the ground thoughtfully. "Think about it. That would explain why he didn't want you coming here. He knows the place is abandoned. All he had to do was pop the door open and let himself in."

"'Pop' is the understatement of the century. Whoever broke in here used way more force than that," Jessica interrupted. Still looking at the inside of the door, she beckoned them over and pointed out the hinges. "Look at all this. The door's barely holding on. Whoever opened this practically ripped it off its hinges."

"How would they do this?" Charlie asked in disbelief. She could see the damage that was being pointed out and from this angle it didn't seem possible from a tool alone.

"My best guess- and it is just a guess- is that maybe someone used their car and tried to pull the door open. Except…" Jessica reached around and felt the doorknob. It was wobbly. "Definitely loose… But if someone had tied a cable around this, it would've come off. It's almost coming off in my hands."

"So, not a car," John clarified.

" _Maybe_ a car," Jessica said with a shrug.

This miniature mystery only made things seem more ominous. That and the looming hallway that hid whatever lay inside of the building. She could see where the floor tiles disappeared into the shadows and nothing more past that point.

Charlie took a deep breath and turned to the others. "Did anyone bring a flashlight?" she asked.

John jogged back to his car while the others tried to make due with what they had. Carlton had a small light on his keyring that would glow when squeezed. Jessica pulled a small toy that looked like a cat out of her purse that worked the same way. Even with what was going on, it got a playful smile from Charlie.

"That's cute," she said almost teasingly. Jessica pursed her lips in slight embarrassment.

"It's the closest I can get to owning a pet at my apartment," she excused, smiling a little when she saw that it raised up Charlie's spirits.

Thankfully, John did have a fully working flashlight in his car and was seemingly the only one truly prepared for what they were about to step into. Charlie was ready for one of them to warn about a last chance to back out, about how this was dangerous and that they needed to leave, but they didn't. Nobody said anything as she took a cautious step inside with John quickly squeezing in beside her.

So, she did. "You don't all have to come in with me. If anyone wants to wait out in the car they can," Charlie said.

"We've already come this far," John said reassuringly.

"Yeah, we've already taken a step inside. No turning back now," Carlton quipped. Though even then he didn't seem like he was wanting to turn back. The only one who truly looked reluctant was Jessica, but she followed closely on the other side of her.

Seeing that they weren't leaving and having given enough warning, Charlie turned her attention back to the inside of the building. Even the flashlight's light seemed to be dimmed once it reached inside.

"What was that about vampires and thresholds? Something about you having to invite them in or they can't get inside?" Charlie off-handedly remarked. Looking at the barren halls and feeling the cold chill, the building did resemble something where an undead ghoul might live. "So that, but reverse."

"But they didn't invite us in, so would that still count? I feel like there's a loophole there," Marla added. She looked around before shivering and giving a rather perky, "Wow, this place is already creeping me out."

The hallway ended with a sharp turn that led out into a lobby area. It wasn't where the front doors were, but there was a large industrial elevator and a directory mounted on the wall beside it. There were other doors too, one leading to restrooms and another to the stairwell, but the elevator clearly took precedent. John shined his flashlight over the list of floors and found many more than were expected.

"Looks like this place is a lot bigger than we thought. It just goes down instead of up," John said. He read over the levels with a frown. "If Michael's here then he's probably still above ground. Maybe up in the offices."

"Wait, we're not really looking for Michael, right?" Lamar bluntly asked. He shuffled up behind John and lowered his voice. "After what you were thinking, I don't think it's a good idea to try and hunt this guy down." John didn't answer but still looked to be considering it, and Lamar just sighed at what he perceived to be stubbornness.

Charlie was about to agree with John's assumption- not to track Michael but to search the offices for information- when the words 'Circus Baby' suddenly caught her eye. There was "Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental" listed on one of the floors. That had to be what was left of Circus Baby's; no wonder she hadn't been able to locate an address.

She contemplated the lead for a moment before speaking up. "I think we should go check out Circus Baby's. That was the sister location that suddenly shut down without warning. Maybe we'll find something there."

John nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a good start."

"But how do we even know if-," Jessica began and was cut off when Charlie reached out and tried the elevator button. A rumbling hum echoed through the building as the lift raised from the lower floors and stopped before them, its doors opening to reveal the large, empty space inside. "Oh.. Okay, never mind."

They started to enter inside when Marla suddenly spoke up. "Hey, wait a second. Shouldn't we be worried about this?" They looked to her and she pointed in a ring around the elevator door. "The power's on? If this place is closed, shouldn't it not have any power?"

"It might still be on the grid," Charlie offered. Then after a moment of thinking about it, she cautiously added, "…And someone might've turned it back on. Whoever came in before us."

"Well, I guess we can rule out vampires now," Marla said as she hesitantly stepped into the elevator as well. She rubbed her arms and scanned the inside of the elevator suspiciously. "Is anyone else starting to really get a bad vibe from this place?"

"The moment Freddy's caught on fire I had a bad vibe of this place," Carlton said. He put an arm around her back and pulled her closer. "Don't worry about it too much. It's just a creepy, old building. The worst thing that could be in here is maybe an arsonist, and I think we could take him out."

"Yeah. I'll hit him with my flashlight and the rest of you can take turns punching him to death," John said dryly. Charlie typed in the level into the keypad by the door and pressed the button above it. Instantly the doors closed and the elevator began to descend into the depths of the facility. He took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. "Down the hatch."

The elevator ride lasted longer than expected and was eerily uncomfortable. The small windows stared out at the passing floors but were too blurry to really see through. Occasionally a trick of the light would cast shadows over them, but a second look would show there was nothing there. Just paranoia playing tricks on their minds. Finally the lift started to slow and with a final buzz the lights went out and the lift stopped.

With another press of the button, the doors opened to reveal something different than they expected. Sagging caution tape was stretched out in front of the doors, crisscrossed with warnings of 'danger', and underneath the tangle was what looked like an open vent shaft. Charlie's eyes locked onto it immediately and sent a chill down her spine.

" _These can't be the same vents from my nightmares, can they? I can't even remember if they looked like this, but if I saw the fire and now I'm seeing vents… It has to be connected, right?"_ She cautiously stepped closer and leaned her head out through the caution tape to look around. She spotted a map of the level's layout on the wall where the directory had been before. "There's a map here."

"Great. Maybe we can keep from getting lost," Jessica said. She leaned out beside Charlie before handing over her cat light to her. "Hold this?" Then Jessica went into her purse and got out a pen and a crumpled-up receipt and drew a replica of the map, including listing the names of the rooms listed on the map. While she was doing so she noticed how narrow the passageway in front of the elevator was on it and furrowed her brows. Considering that there wasn't a hallway before the elevator, there was only one assumption.

"I think this is the vent," she said, tapping her pen on the passage in question. She turned to Charlie with a slight grimace. "Which means I think it wants us to climb through _that_ … But we're not actually going to do that, of course. That would be silly."

"Unless this caution tape actually means something," Lamar reminded as he looked around into the darkness. Neither Charlie nor Jessica liked the sound of that. The former sighed and looked to the vent again.

She didn't want to go into that vent. She didn't want to come face to face with that rabbit… But she had no choice. It meant something, she knew it. She was meant to come down here.

"Please tell me you're not considering it," Jessica said as she noticed her friend's staring. The young woman gave a partial shrug. "What- Charlie!"

"I'll go first," John volunteered to stop the incoming debate. He kneeled down and shined his flashlight down through the vent. "Looks big enough to fit… Okay, whoever's coming stay close. Everyone else, wait in the elevator until we get back," he said. Then he crawled inside the vent, the soft thumping of his movement echoing back to them.

It was enough to snap Charlie out of her thoughts. She crouched down and followed him into the vent, crawling quickly after him, not leaving enough space between them for anything to appear.

They came out into what looked like a small control room. Large windows stared out into more blackness and before them sat two identical panels with two buttons on them, one with a tiny sun pattern and the other with a lightning bolt. Across from where they came in there was a large grate blocking a fan in the wall, and under it was a vent opening. Two more openings sat under the windows. A few black screens sat on the upper walls and ceiling, perhaps once used to monitor the building but now showed nothing.

It was deathly silent. The only sound was the banging from the others climbing through the vent behind them. John shined his light over one of the panels and Charlie looked at the patterns. The sun one looked like it could be the lights, so she pressed it. It released a hollow click and nothing else.

"The power's out down here… But we might be able to get it back on. There was a breaker room on the map. Chances are if the upstairs lights are working then the ones down here will too if we can turn them on," Charlie said. John nodded silently and they waited for the others. Something about it felt uncomfortable, like she was supposed to say something more, but she wasn't sure what. Maybe apologize for making him come here when all he had wanted was a normal date.

Thankfully, the rest of the group caught up and soon were crammed in the control module with them. John turned to Jessica and simply asked, "Which way's the breaker room?"

"It's… That way." She pointed off towards the left and through the window. "Through something caused the Ballora Gallery. Right there," she clarified, showing the map to Charlie.

"Then that's where we're heading first. We're not going to find anything if we don't get these lights on," Charlie said. She turned to the appropriate vent and knelt down, shining the small cat light through. At least it illuminated the tight space somewhat better. The vent was much shorter than the last one, thankfully, because elsewise she knew she would've had trouble forcing herself through.

"What is this place?" she could hear Marla whisper as she climbed inside. Even if she waited around to answer she wouldn't have been able to give one. This wasn't the robotics manufacturing facility that she had been expecting. It was just an empty, suffocating building, cleared out long ago.

Charlie stood inside of the gallery and felt suffocated. The light was too small to reach anywhere near the distant walls and only succeeded in illuminating herself, making her a target if there had been anything else down there. Though if the trip there had been any indication there wasn't anything left in here. She called back through the vent, "We're going to need the flashlight."

S _queak._

Charlie's head snapped over quickly as she stared at the far side of the room. She swore she heard something faint, like a tiny squeak of metal, but then nothing followed it. She wondered if she had misheard it, if she confused a noise that had come from the vent or control room. By time Jessica, Marla, and the others climbed through she decided it was nothing.

As they waited for everyone to come through, Marla rocked nervously on her heels. "Sooo…" she began, mostly directing the question to the other two girls. "What do you think they used to do here?"

"I don't know. It does seem weird that they had a room this open without any sign of machinery or anything," Charlie admitted. She tried to shine the cat light over the room to no avail. "Definitely doesn't look like a storage room… Jess, you said it was called the Ballerina Gallery?"

"Ballora Gallery, though don't ask me what's the difference," Jessica corrected.

Marla snapped her fingers and blurted out, "That must be the ballerina from the poster!" Charlie and Jessica looked to her in confusion. "…You didn't see it? It was hanging up inside the elevator."

"I didn't even notice. I sort of had a lot on my mind," Charlie admitted. Jessica seemed more interested in that than the ballerina and was prepped to ask when she was interrupted.

"Maybe that's what used to perform on _that_ ," Lamar announced. He and John were both looking towards the far right wall where the flashlight revealed an abandoned stage. "…I don't know why they'd have it performing all the way down here if it's a rental company, but alright. Maybe they tested it here before shipping it out."

"In a room this big? Talk about a waste of space," Marla said doubtfully.

"Well, if you look, there's some sort of track around the floor-." Almost as soon as Lamar said that, Carlton could be heard stumbling over something in the dark. "Yeah, that. Carlton found it."

"Thanks for the head's up before I broke my skull open," the redhead answered. He righted himself and made his way to the three women. John waved the flashlight along the walls and it fell on the far door, which Carlton spotted and pointed to. "Bingo. There's where we're heading," he announced. They continued across the Ballora Gallery a little quicker.

The Breaker Room was exactly what it said on the map. Just a small, basic breaker room overflowing with loose wires and set with a control panel to run the breakers themselves. Carlton and Charlie approached the panel together and started to look over it. He tapped on the screen to no response and she checked the wires connecting it, which was how she found a switch to boot it up.

Within seconds an image popped up on the screen showing a map of the facility along with a row of buttons with names on them and zero percentages. Carlton pressed the Breaker Room labelled one and it began to boot, raising slowly in percentage until it reached one hundred percent. Then there was a hum, a dull clicking from somewhere above, and then dim, flickering lights turned on in the room.

"Seems simple enough. I'm just going to go ahead and turn them all on," Carlton said. He moved back to the button at the top- which was labelled 'Circus Control'- and pressed it down. It began to slowly load up.

Though while he did this, Charlie crouched down to look closer at the map. The moment it came on she realized that it did not match the layout of the one beside the elevator. There were many more rooms, at least a dozen small ones dotted around the edges of the main layout.

"Look at this. None of these little rooms were on the map out front," Charlie said in disbelief. "Almost half of the floor was missing from the floorplan."

"Yeah, I noticed that. Looks like Mr. Afton had something to hide," Carlton muttered. They exchanged a wary look before he leaned in closer to read the list of names again. "Looks like they're 'observation rooms'."

"What would they need observation rooms for?" Marla asked quietly.

"Nothing good, I'll tell you that much," he replied. He frowned tighter as his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "If these aren't on the maps then I doubt any cops saw these rooms- if they ever even came down here."

"Animatronics," Charlie suddenly said. "I think the observation rooms might be to observe the animatronics. Especially if they were as prone to accidents as Freddy's led everyone to believe. By the end they were probably testing them extensively… Or they thought that Afton was." She slowly looked away as an eerie thought filled her mind. _"…Or he used those rooms to practice."_

She glanced at the map on the screen again and noticed an unlabeled room connected to the Ballora Gallery. One that looked like the other observation rooms. "There's only one way to find out."

Without another word and with a determined stride, Charlie headed back out of the breaker room and in the direction of the supposed room. Some of the lights had come on with the power, including the overhead lights of the control room they first passed through, but the gallery was still mostly dark. The tiny light didn't help much either, so she was thankful when Carlton caught up with his. It was just enough to work with. Marla followed along with them.

What they found wasn't exactly a door but a narrow hatch in the wall. Charlie tried it and after a sharp tug it popped open with a crunchy creak. She shined the light in to see a narrow passageway leading inside. It reminded her of the passages in her nightmares, but she still didn't think this was what she had seen. She still stepped inside cautiously and sidled through.

In the back of her mind she was expecting another control room considering that they had to crawl to get to the first one, but that wasn't what waited for her. What waited was a wooden door- the last thing she expected in a facility of metal and tile. She slowly opened it up and shined the tiny light inside. The room was just small enough that the light alone gave her a good idea what she was looking at. Though she could still barely believe it.

There was a short hallway that went nowhere. Four doors lined the walls but all it took was her leaning and looking in to realize that there was nothing inside of them, like four closets instead of passageways. This was strange enough without the actual details of the room, which raised more questions.

The hallway was designed like something that would be found inside of a typical family home, with pale wallpaper, blue carpet, and even a window at the end of the hall. Getting closer revealed that it was not actually a window but another set of screens that were styled like one, blackened out. There was also a chair at the end of the hall that looked like it came from a dining set. It was the only thing in the hallway.

Charlie was confused at what she was seeing and turned to Carlton who was still in the doorway. He peered into one of the doors and saw what she had, then got an uneasy look in his eyes, meeting hers.

"Still think they were observing animatronics?" he bluntly asked. He certainly wasn't and now that he brought it up neither was she. The room suddenly felt much more ominous.

"…I think we need to see what's in the other ones," Charlie quietly said. They left the hallway in a hurry.

The moment they were back in the Ballora Gallery, they were called by Jessica, who was standing by the hatch that led to the control room they first passed through. She was barely lit by the dull glow coming through the windows above her and was wearing a tight frown.

"Guys, we've got a problem over here." The three jogged over and she gestured to the opening. "I was trying to get back into the control room to see if I could get the overhead lights on and the vent's closed up."

"What?! How did that happen?!" Marla gasped. Charlie leaned down and looked into the vent only to find that Jessica was right. The vent had been covered on the other side, suspiciously like her nightmare. "Oh no, no. I don't have my phone and I didn't tell anyone where I was going. If we're actually stuck in here…" Marla quickly devolved into panic in seconds. Carlton turned her by the shoulders to face him.

"Easy, it's okay! We're not stuck in here. You saw all those rooms, there's bound to be another way out. Hell, we saw stairs before we got in the elevator. There's at least one other way out of here," he reassured her. She swallowed thickly and nodded slowly. "And trust me, even if we can't get out we'll get found. One of us had to have brought a phone." It was then that he looked past Marla's shoulder to see Jessica mouthing 'no service'. He paused a long moment before adding in, "Even if we didn't, Dad'll find us. He's probably already on his way."

Charlie exhaled slowly before pushing herself back out of the vent. "Don't worry about it, Marla. If the vent closed because we turned on the power then it'll open up when we shut it off again. We'll just look around here and turn off the breakers before we leave. We were probably going to do that anyway," she comforted with a smile. Unlike Carlton and Jessica, she was much more confident in what she was saying.

"Okay… Okay, right. Sorry about that," Marla said quietly. A blush settled on her cheeks. "I didn't mean to lose it there, I just- you know- it's like when you get locked out of your car. It's a mini-meltdown."

"No worries, Babe. You're good," Carlton assured. He held her close and she hugged him tightly long enough to calm back down. In the meantime Jessica turned to Charlie.

"John and Lamar are over there looking for another door," she explained, waving back towards the stage. "Did you guys find anything?"

"…Well, we found s _omething_."

"There's a door back here!" John suddenly called. All four looked over to see his light shining over a door hidden in the corner. He tried the handle and it opened easily. "It's unlocked!"

"Thank goodness!" Jessica said under her breath before leading the way over. She totally forgot about her own question and, for the moment, Charlie was glad she did.

John and Lamar led the way through the door, down a slender hall, and then out into another large room like the Ballora Gallery. Except this room was styled differently. There were more things in it; posters on the wall, large prize boxes in the corner, and storage containers littered around the room. It looked like nobody had been here for some time.

"This is… The Circus Gallery," Jessica said after glancing at the map. "…It's not really circus themed, is it?" John scoffed and shined his light over the room, then turned to address the others. He was stopped before he could by a hand grabbing his wrist.

"Wait," Lamar warned. He aimed the flashlight back towards the opposite wall and the glimpse of red he had seen. "There's something standing over there…" The beam of light fell onto a large figure slumped stiffly in the far corner. It was a stark sight against the mostly empty room, a red and white statue against the grey walls. "It's a clown?"

"It's a _huge_ clown!" Marla exclaimed.

Charlie recognized the animatronic right away from its coloring to its pigtails and tutu shaped skirt. "That's Circus Baby," she said.

"Why's she so big?! That had to scare kids!" The others seemed to agree with this sentiment for the most part and even Charlie was a little surprised by Baby's size. Even sitting she could tell it would've stood taller than her. The group walked over to get a closer look.

From this angle, Charlie's small light shined across the clown's face and revealed that it was missing its eyes. She winced inwardly. _"Did they take out her eyes or did someone steal them?... Wait."_

She looked closer and realized there weren't any sockets inside either. Its facial plates were slightly parted which spurred Charlie to reach out and touch them. She gently pulled back half of the mouth and aimed the light inside only to find nothing but empty space. "She's missing more than that. They took her endoskeleton out."

"What's that, just the stuff inside?" Carlton asked.

"Pretty much. It's just like it sounds, it's the skeleton. Usually they have those plush suits on them, but I guess in this case they had these plates instead," Charlie explained. She knocked over the chest plates and noticed how heavy the suit had to be. _"It couldn't have been like the endoskeletons Dad used to use. They were way too flimsy to move something like this…"_

She could only remember seeing one endoskeleton in her father's workshop years ago and it had been thin enough that a strong breeze could've knocked it over. Something stronger would've been needed in this case. Perhaps that was why they found the endoskeleton more important to take than the shell surrounding it. She wondered if it had been repurposed for one of the animatronics at the new Freddy's.

Finally Charlie pulled back from Circus Baby. It was strange to find it in such a state, but they had to keep moving. She turned around and faced the wall where the next set of observation rooms would've been.

"There should be a door or hatch somewhere on that wall," Charlie said. At this, John shined the light over the wall before spotting and stopping at a narrow maintenance door like the one in the Ballora Gallery. "There, that's it. Let's go." She led the way over to it with a determined stride, eager to see what else the observation rooms were hiding.

Lamar had been following at the back when heard a noise from somewhere behind him. He turned around and looked to where he heard it. He could just make out the windows of another control room, but he couldn't see anything inside. Unsurprising considering he was trying to see without a direct light. "Did anyone else hear that?"

"What?" Marla asked as she looked back with him. He hesitated before deciding it was probably just the air vents or something settling now that the power was on. He shook his head.

"Never mind. It's nothing. I guess this place is just creeping me out," Lamar dismissed. He then followed with the others and Marla shrugged it off just as easily. They had more important things to dwell on.

Such as what was waiting on the other side of the passageway. Just like the one that led to the hallway, it was a tight, narrow space that led to another hatch. It was cold on her hands as she gave a firm push and sent it swinging open. The flashlight's beam passed around her and fell into the following room, illuminating it enough that she could see what it hid and it was the last thing she would've ever expected.

It was an exact replica of the old diner. From the tiled floors to the colorful walls, to the posters billing Fredbear instead of Freddy Fazbear. Charlie saw it and felt an immediate sinking feeling.

There was a terrible secret waiting down here and she was about to find out what it was.


	7. Secrets

"What… Is this place?" Jessica voiced everyone's thoughts as they stepped into the fake restaurant. They looked around with equal wariness. "Why would they have a pizzeria all the way down here?"

"This was called an observation room… Maybe they brought people down here and did, I don't know, intense focus grouping?" Carlton guessed with an uneasy shrug.

"I guess if we're looking for some sort of answer then that's… Something," Jessica unconvincingly agreed. She looked around slowly at the room. "It's exactly the same. I can't believe it, it's all exactly the same."

Except that it wasn't. Charlie was the first and perhaps only one of them to notice that there was something different in the pizzeria. On the opposite wall from them there was a large, closed door. It was entirely made of metal and sealed closed like some sort of enforced security door. She walked over to it and looked around for a keypad or a button to open it, but there wasn't. Like the vent's door it was just sealed shut.

"Guys, look at this," she called back as she rested her hand on the door. It sent a shiver through her body. Somehow she knew there was something being hidden behind this door. "Do you ever remember a door like this being at the old pizzeria?"

"…No. And I pretty much remember that place like the back of my hand," Carlton said as he came over. He gave up on his half-hearted attempts to excuse away what they were seeing and instead asked, "What would someone need a door this thick for? They would've taken anything they needed on the way out, right?"

"I guess just to keep someone out… Or to keep something in."

"You don't mean like busted up animatronics, right?"

Honestly, at this point she could've, but thought there was something else more likely. "I was thinking more like incriminating evidence that they couldn't let anyone see. Documents, boxes…" Charlie felt that shiver again. _"Bodies…?"_ Someone could be hidden in this room and never found. Someone taken from a place just like this, someone like Sammy. Somehow in a matter of moments she convinced herself that there was something behind this door that either related to him or the missing children. "…We need to shut the power back off."

"Oh good. I was just thinking it was too bright in here," Carlton said flatly. He glanced to her curiously. "Why, to get the door open?"

"Exactly. It could be like the door in the vent and only activate when it has enough power. We need to see what's behind it," Charlie insisted. She turned to tell the others when suddenly the room lit up around them.

"And let there be light," she could hear Lamar saying as he stepped back from the light switches by the front doors. She watched as he then nudged the doors open and peered out, then called back to the others, "Hey, come check this out! There's a whole outside area here!"

"Outside?" Charlie repeated.

"There's no way," Carlton remarked. He started heading over to the doors. "Not this far underground. Its got to be a greenhouse or something."

Charlie began to follow when she looked around the room once more and just happened to spot something black laying on the closest table. She picked it up and studied it in her hand, soon realizing that it was a heavy duty tazer. "What's this doing down here?" she asked herself. She pressed the button on the side and it jolted to life. "Still works…"

"Charlie, are you coming?" Jessica called to her. She noticed the object she was carrying. "What's that?"

"It's a tazer… And yes, I feel the same way," she said, noticing the disturbed look that crossed Jessica's face. The brunette tried to fit it in her jacket pocket. It was half hanging out so she kept her hand on it almost protectively to keep it there, somewhat disguising it while still keeping it close by. _"Just in case."_

Upon catching up with the others, Charlie was surprised to see what they were referring to as 'outside' was actually another room. It was about the size of the pizzeria before it and was styled to look like a parking lot. The tiled floor was painted to look like asphalt, blue skies with white puffy clouds were painted on the walls and ceiling, and the wall that the front doors were against was painted like the outside of the restaurant. It almost looked like something that would've been in a daycare and it would've been quaint if it was anywhere else.

"This is insane. Why would someone go through the effort of making all this and hiding it underground?" John asked in disbelief. He shook his head and asked Charlie, "Did you see this on the map?"

"I saw rooms that were shaped like this, yes. Which means there's more around that corner over there," she said and pointed ahead. Past where the 'parking lot' ended and where it was replaced by a painted sidewalk, 'grass' carpet, and a fence lined up alongside the wall. It abruptly ended in a sharp right turn. "Let's go see what's down there before we turn the power back off."

"Yeah. This place is creepy but it's a lot less creepy with the lights on," Marla agreed. She took Carlton's hand tightly and tried to steady herself. "Let's go."

Charlie led the way with John at her side and the others right behind them. They walked to the end of the room and turned the corner, finding more of the sidewalk leading on.

On the right side of the path they walked up on a playground. The equipment was old but still in decent condition, largely because of the lack of elements it would've face if it was actually outside. It was while looking at a small swing set that Charlie suddenly had a unsettling realization.

"I just got a very, very disturbing thought…" she admitted out loud.

John turned to her questioningly. "What's that?"

"…What if this is where all the missing children were brought to?" That was enough to stop him in his tracks and she slowed to a halt as well, still watching the playground alongside them. "Think about it, why else would someone set up all of this? He was obviously doing something down here… And there just happens to be a dozen missing children who aren't accounted for." John was silent. When he still didn't respond she looked to him and saw that he was staring at the playground too. "…John?"

"This… This looks a lot like the park I told you about. The one I used to play with where Joe went missing…" His eyes slowly widened in a dread she had never seen on his face before. "He was watching us the whole time. Our parents thought we were safe because we weren't at Freddy's, but he followed us here."

Silence spread over the group and the others were clearly listening. Charlie wasn't sure what to say, because she knew John was right. It only seemed to back up what she was seeing. All of those children who disappeared could've been brought to this fake pizzeria, to that fake hallway she saw in the Ballora Gallery, and to whatever observation rooms remained, and yet there was no trace of them. They had all vanished.

Just like Sammy, all gone.

"We should hurry," Jessica finally spoke up, breaking the tension. "I don't think any of us want to really see what's down there, but the longer we stay here… I don't think we should stay here any longer than we need to. Let's check the rest of the rooms and get out of here."

"And check the door," Charlie quickly reminded.

"That too. We can do that on the way out… Unless you think we should turn around now?"

"No," John spoke up. He finally turned away from the playground and faced the opposite wall. He looked more somber than angry even though he clearly thinking about the man who did this. "We already came this far. Let's just see this through. Is that okay with everyone?" There was mutual agreement and they continued down to the next turn.

That was when the scenery suddenly changed. The sidewalk now led up to another wall that was painted like the outside of a house and a wooden door that looked suspiciously like the one in the hallway. Charlie turned the icy doorknob and opened the door to reveal a dimly lit living room inside.

Like the pizzeria before it, the rooms were styled to look like a real house. There was a television and an old couch covered in a layer of dust. The carpet was overly spongey and smelled old. To the immediately left was a door that she tried and found it stuck tight. There wasn't even a keyhole but it felt like it was locked.

"This is seriously disturbing…" Jessica whispered as she stepped inside after John. "Whose house was this?"

"I have no idea. I don't remember there being a house this close to the playground… Then again, I don't remember the playground being this close to the pizzeria either," John admitted. He continued to look around while Jessica followed after Charlie, who was still looking around and heading in the direction of a nearby hallway.

Carlton, meanwhile, approached the television and bent down in front of it. "Wouldn't it be insane if they still got cable down here?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood. Persuaded by his own curiosity, he pressed the button on the television and it came on to static. "Guess we couldn't be so lucky."

"What's in that drawer down there?" Lamar asked, pointing to the drawer under the television. Carlton opened it up and raised his brows.

"Huh. It's a VCR and a bunch of tapes. Sort of looks like it's wired up through the bottom," he said. He and Lamar exchanged a look for a second, getting the same idea, and the redhead promptly turned on the VCR and checked inside of it. There was a tape already in it so he started it up.

A cartoon popped up on the screen and the sudden, loud sound coming from it startled the four who weren't paying attention to what he had been doing. The two in front of the television were not too surprised to see what cartoon was being played on the television.

"I remember this show! It was that Freddy cartoon they used to have a long time ago. Talk about a blast from the past," Carlton said. He smiled a little as he saw familiar characters chattering on the screen. "Man, I used to watch this show religiously before it got cancelled."

"I kind of remember it? I don't know, that looks familiar, but I don't think I watched much of it," Lamar agreed. He was much less nostalgic but still curious. "Do you know why they cancelled it?"

"It had to be something to do with Freddy's because the show was great. Halfway through they got this plot going where they had this wizard or something that was taking over the island and mind controlling their friends. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, like the show was growing up with me. Then, all of a sudden, it was off the air."

"Did they stop the wizard or did it just stop in the middle of the story?"

"I can't even remember. I kind of just watched reruns whenever they came on."

"Can you turn that down?" Marla asked with a light huff. "You remember we're technically trespassing, right? Trespassing in some… Creepy… Dark… Underground, human-sized dollhouse. Turn that off."

"Alright, alright," Carlton said and shut it off. He ejected the tape and whispered to Lamar, "Think anyone would care if I took this?" Lamar shrugged before shaking his head.

Meanwhile, Charlie stepped into the short hallway. It was largely empty with the only furniture in it being a grandfather clock. The walls were barren without windows or decoration and even the clock wasn't running any longer. It probably hadn't been wound or maintained in years. On the far end of the hall was an open door and Charlie could see into a bedroom, specifically seeing a pink bed. The second door, directly to her right, was shut tight.

She thought it too would be locked and so she checked the door quickly. To her surprise the door readily opened and what she found past it stopped her in her tracks. It stopped everything all at once.

"Charlie?" Jessica noticed how she froze up. As the brunette slowly stepped into the room, the blond called back out to the living room. "Guys, Charlie found something!" The others hastily hurried to catch up and she followed into the room after her friend. "Charlie…?"

The room looked like it had once been a child's bedroom. There were toys on the floor and on the dresser, some of which were plush versions of Freddy Fazbear and friends. A simple lamp sat on a bedside table with a vase squeezed on the very edge beside it.

The main thing that stood out in the room however was the bed. Not a child's bed but a hospital bed, old and forgotten, with a hospital gown crumpled at its foot.

Charlie stood in the center of the room and stared at the hospital bed silently as her thoughts raced. Everything Michael said suddenly came back to her. Suddenly she knew what was being kept down here.

_"He always knew where he was."_

"This was where he took him…" Charlie whispered. Jessica heard her.

"Him?... You mean Sammy?"

"No, Afton's son… When I was talking to Michael he told me this story about his brother. I think I mentioned it to you, how his brother was in an accident? Before that he had said his brother disappeared for a few years and that he thought his father knew about it. After the accident, after he was declared brain dead, William took him from the hospital and took him home to die… Or brought him here." Charlie lifted the hospital gown and could see it was small enough to fit a child. "Brought him back here."

"Why would he bring him down here?" Jessica asked in surprise. She was already shocked that he got the bed down here at all, but to keep a dying child in a place like this seemed sadistic. "…Why?"

Charlie felt it too. "I don't know," she admitted. There was a long moment of silence. "…We have to get that door open."

"The door back in the pizzeria, the metal one?" Jessica asked.

"Right. Something has to be in there if they're trying that hard to keep it closed, and after this… It could be anything. It could be evidence, it could be more equipment…" Charlie took a deep breath and steadied herself for that possibility. "…That could be where he put them."

"Oh God, don't say that," Jessica begged. She watched Charlie head out with a disturbed look.

John, who was listening the entire time, had a doubtful look as Charlie passed by. He almost let her go without saying anything, but this time he couldn't stay silent, not when he had seen all of this. He felt like he needed to warn her and simply stated his feelings. "I don't think we should blindly put our faith in Michael. Or someone who says he's Michael without even showing his face," he said.

"Who else am I supposed to trust, John? Nobody else knows anything and those who do pretend that they don't. Everyone's always hiding something in this town," Charlie said sharply. She regretted her tone immediately, especially once she saw his surprised look, but she couldn't find it in her to apologize. It felt less like she was defending Michael and more that she was struggling to be heard, even if she knew in the back of her mind that wasn't the case.

All the while the creeping thoughts of Sammy were coming back. Reminding her that he could've been down here, scared out of his mind, used as William's plaything. That it had almost been her.

Feeling the thick tension, Marla decided to step in and try to do damage control. "Yeah, let's start heading back. The sooner we get the power off, the sooner the doors open, the sooner we can leave."

So, they did. They started heading out of the fake house. John fell to the back of the group, which Jessica noticed and looked at his face as she passed by. He had the same look of regret that Charlie now had. The walk back to the pizzeria felt much longer than it really was, and once they were in the dining room Charlie headed straight for the door.

"I think I'm just going to wait here. You guys can shut the power off and then I'll check what's inside… And then I can meet you out in the gallery," she offered. It was clear what she was really implying though, trying to spare them of seeing whatever was hiding behind the door. The others didn't seem as content with this idea and all looked equally concerned.

"I don't know if you should stay here alone… What if something else locks when we shut the power off and we can't get you out? You could be stuck back here," Jessica warned. Charlie feigned a smile and prepared to assure her that it wouldn't happen when she was cut off by a surprising interjection.

"I'll stay," John volunteered. She looked to him in surprise and he looked to her with that same remorse. "If that's okay with you."

"If you're sure," Charlie agreed. They both seemed to stand there awkwardly and Jessica looked between them, raised her brows thoughtfully, and then stopped any further protests. Instead she turned to the others and began to usher them back towards the hatch with only a few words of encouragement. Charlie could imagine her having that smile again. Or would've if this situation wasn't so dire.

Then it was just Charlie and John standing there beside the door. Again she felt that need to say something, but unlike in the control room this time she couldn't ignore it. She took a deep breath and began.

"I know it sounds crazy that I still believe Michael after seeing all of this. I don't even know him, so how can I just believe some stranger on the phone? It's just… When I talked to him, even though it was just that one time, I got the feeling that he knew what I was going through, because he went through it too. He had a brother who he loved and lost. He had a father who was living this double life that ended up destroying their family. After so long of having people beat around the bush, he didn't talk down to me when it came to Freddy's. I feel like that means something."

"I just worry about you. I don't want to see you get hurt or have someone take advantage of you," John admitted. He faced Charlie again and hesitated a moment before noticing something she had said. "…I don't think your dad was involved in any of this."

"I can't even tell anymore. I just don't know how he couldn't know about this place," Charlie admitted. She looked around the room with a wary frown. "It brings up so many memories. So many things I thought I forgot and all it took was just seeing it again to bring everything back. And what makes it worse is that now all of those good memories are ruined. I can't remember playing at the diner without thinking about the rabbit…" Her gaze settled on the security door again. "I don't remember this door, but when I look at it I get this… Strange feeling."

"Like what?"

"…Like the feeling I got when that rabbit carried Sammy away. I feel like Sammy's right here and is getting carried away. Like he's just beyond this door," Charlie admitted. She knocked on the door and it echoed hollowly, then she rested her hand on it. "…What am I going to do if he's in here?"

"…I don't know," John admitted honestly. "But I know that if he is, we're here for you and we're going to get through it together… And no matter what happens, we're not going to leave you." He put his arm around her again and pulled her into a secure hold, one that she felt more than willing to accept.

It was the first thing to bring a real smile to Charlie's face in what felt like forever. "Thanks, John. I'm glad you're here." And even though she didn't feel the same sheepishness or butterflies in her stomach, she was truly glad that he was. It made the wait a little easier.

Back out in the Circus Gallery, crossing into the Ballora Gallery, their four friends were trying to make due with the tiny flashlights. The rooms seemed so much more dark in comparison to the ones they were just in, but it seemed pointless to try and get the lights on when they would just be turned back off a few minutes later.

"Maybe we shouldn't have left them back there like that. You had a point with the doors, we could've just killed the power and walked back together," Lamar said doubtfully. Surprisingly, nobody else seemed worried about it. Not even Jessica who had been very concerned about this whole thing.

"They'll be fine. They need to work out some things anyway," she said. Then let it drop without any further explanation.

If anything, this made Lamar more suspicious. He stopped with an unenthused look and bluntly asked, "Alright, what's _really_ going on?"

"We're doing that thing when a group of friends try to discreetly shove two friends into a romantic relationship without them noticing," Carlton added with that same lack of amusement. This instantly got a frown from Jessica and he raised a brow challengingly. "What, was it supposed to be a secret? I thought we were a team here." The blond rolled her eyes.

Seeing Lamar's shocked look caused Marla to snicker. "Oh, don't act so surprised. Remember how close they used to be when we were kids? John always had this huge crush on Charlie and from what I've been seeing it didn't go anywhere."

"…Huh… I didn't know _John_ had a thing for Charlie," Lamar said. He discreetly glanced towards Carlton who pointedly looked away. "I could think of a better time and place to play matchmaker."

"We're just giving them a moment to talk some things out. That's going to be easier without us hovering over them," Jessica reaffirmed. The conversation trailed off as they passed through the Ballora Gallery and into the Breaker Room once again. Jessica approached the breaker panel and scanned over it. "Okay, now how do we get this off? It doesn't look like there's an option here."

"There's a switch on the back that we used to turn it on. Maybe it works both ways?" Carlton asked. Jessica circled the panel to check and found it right where Charlie had, unlabeled and carefully hidden. She clicked it off and the panel went dark, but the dim, flickering lights were still on. "Or maybe it just works for the panel and nothing else."

"Looks like there's a fuse box over there. Carlton, hand me your light," Lamar said. Once he was handed it, he headed over to the panel and easily opened it. It looked just like a normal one and after looking over it he found what looked to be the main power switch and clicked it off. Immediately the lights died and a distant hum faded in the facility to a hollow silence. "There we go. That should be it."

"But you think the elevator still has power, right?" Marla asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I think it's fine. It had power when the floor didn't," he said nonchalantly as he shut the box.

Their footsteps echoed across the Ballora Gallery as they headed back towards the door. It was the only thing that fought back the suffocating silence. They made it to the door and Jessica led the way through the passage, all the while feeling her anxiousness beginning to grow as she thought about that suspicious room. She swallowed it down enough to open the door to the Circus Gallery.

Only to have hit something only an inch out.

"Huh?" Jessica tried to press harder at the door but found it unwilling to budge. She pulled the door back closed and then threw it out more firmly to no avail. All it did was confirm that it was hitting something on the other side. "Something's blocking the door…?"

"What?" Carlton asked. He tried to lean past Marla to see. "Wait, hold on. Are you sure it didn't just lock when we turned the power off?"

"No, it's hitting something. Something must've fell over, or…" Jessica trailed off as she shined her little light through. It was then that she noticed the color of the bulky object wedged up against the door. It was red and white. "I think it's Circus Baby!"

"The clown? No! How?" Marla asked in disbelief. "How could that happen? How could she get in front of the door?"

"I don't know, but it's her alright. Look," Jessica offered. Marla squeezed beside her to look through the crack and recognized that it was the empty clown too. She grew at least a shade paler.

"Maybe it got up and walked itself over here," Carlton said. Jessica gave an exasperated huff and was about to scold him for joking at a time like this, but he beat her to it. "I'm dead serious," he said. One look at his face showed not even a shred of amusement. As unbelievable as it sounded there was no denying the facts; something moved this heavy body across the Circus Gallery.

Almost like it had blocked the door _on purpose._

Jessica suddenly had a bad feeling that they weren't alone down here. "We have to find another way through, _now_."

* * *

It was jarring when the pizzeria lights suddenly died with little more than a dying hum. Then a loud clanging came from right beside the two. Charlie's breath caught as she realized it was the sound of the security door opening. At the same moment that John turned on his flashlight, Charlie was hit by something else: a rotten, grotesque odor. It was faded from age but still stood out prominently.

It reminded her somewhat of the smell of dead animal, except more vile and less sharp. The wave of sickness that rushed over her was not from the scent but from the realization of how out of place it was. Though she didn't have time to dwell on it when the door was open, the flashlight was on, and she could see what hid inside of the room. Cautiously she stepped into the room.

The small room was no bigger than the fake bedroom just through the wall. Large gift box props were stacked in the corner and a few shelves held dusty, old plush toys, as though on display. There was a table off to the left turned on its side and with a drop cloth thrown over it, giving this room the impression of being a storage room. If not for _that smell_ she might've believed it was.

Two things stood out immediately to Charlie and not just because they were across from the door. One was a large box that was also painted to look like a gift box, though the size made it look like a toybox. One of its flaps was slightly opened because of the slender tube caught in it. The tube that led up to a lone IV stand mounted right beside the box, the bag long since depleted, now worthless.

Charlie was immediately drawn to the box. She took a cautious step towards it, her boots sounding so loud in an otherwise silent room. Though she heard John say her name, trying to caution her, she continued ahead towards the box. Her eyes followed the tube from the IV stand into the box. There was something in that box. The smell was only growing stronger the closer she got to it.

She stared down at the dark crack in the flaps and could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears. _"This is it,"_ she thought as she reached down. _"In here..."_ With that, Charlie threw the flaps back.

…But the box was empty. Except for that terrible smell which was clearly coming from the box. Except for that IV-line dangling down into the box loosely, like it had once fed something. It was then that Charlie knew this wasn't someone's toybox.

This was someone's coffin.

John noticed Charlie's frozen state and expected the worst. He took a hesitant step closer and asked, "…What is it?" She slowly turned her head, unable to answer at first and still trying to get her thoughts together. "Charlie?" he pressed further. He could hear the hatch opening, signaling the others' return, but his attention was all on her and the box. "Charlie, speak to me."

"There's… There's nothing here… But I'm pretty sure there was," Charlie admitted. She looked back down into the box again and it was like the temperature in the room dropped even further. "…I think William brought his son down here and put him in this box."

"Why would he do that…?"

"I don't know," Charlie admitted. "I don't know, I just know he did. This IV, the- the smell… Maybe he was hiding the body. It doesn't make sense why, but that's the only thing I can think of. Maybe back then there were people working down here and he didn't want to risk them seeing. There had to be some workers in a place of this size…" She shook her head slowly, almost in disbelief at her own words. "I can't believe this." John was silent, not knowing what to say, and Charlie turned back towards him.

And saw the dark figure looming behind John. Her eyes popped open in surprise and she yelled, "John, behind you!"

He turned around just in time to have something metal slam against the side of his chest. John was thrown to the floor by the sheer strength of it with the flashlight falling from its grasp. It rolled only a short way but was turned enough to cast some light over the tall figure standing over him. To his alarm it was something much worse than a crazed maniac, it wasn't even human.

Wires frayed out of its metal body. Some sticking loosely from its chest and shoulders while others stuck out of its head, almost like hair, one resembling a pigtail and the over a melted mess of wires crawling down half of its face. Paint was streaked down its face plates from where it had liquidized. A metal ring around its legs, styled like a tutu, had been warped from the heat and sunk down where some of the red mixture clung to its thigh. One of its arms ended in a twitching hand while the other, the one that struck him, was ended in a large, menacing claw.

It was a horrifying creature, but there was no doubting what it was. It was the same character as the one they had passed in the Circus Gallery. It was a scrapped, half-melted, broken version of Circus Baby.

Its eyes alit in a brilliant green before locking onto him. That was the only warning he got before it attacked. It dove forward on wheels like roller skates and pulled in its claw like a snake drawing back to strike. John pushed off the wall and rolled just quick enough to avoid the claw that slammed into the tile. He then tried to get to his feet, but it slid its claw on the ground and swung it against him, knocking him onto his back.

Then it got above him, drawing back its claw again, and stared down at him with an angry unlike any he had ever felt. It was prepared to crush him under its claw, and the only thing that stopped it was its green eyes suddenly darting to the side in time to see Charlie running up and spot the taser in her hand. The moment it saw that taser its target shifted and it pushed off and skated for her.

Charlie tried to duck out of the way into the room but the animatronic overtook her, ramming itself shoulder first into her and knocking her back onto the floor. It hit the corner of the wall which deflected it from crashing into her, but the force had still knocked the taser out of her hands, and she had to crawl after it. Charlie could hear the melted clown skate back into the room as she grabbed the taser and rolled onto her back just in time to face her assailant.

The clown was too fast and swatted her hand with its own. The sharp tips of its fingers left a couple shallow cuts in her palm as the taser was thrown again into the darkness. Charlie then reached for the only thing she could, the IV pole, and yanked it in front of her to shield herself. The clown's claw shot out and clamped down on the thin pole, and Charlie watched the sheer strength as it was crushed in its grip.

It then ripped the object away and tossed it aside. Now she was entirely at its mercy, but much to Charlie's confusion it didn't immediately attack like it had with John. Instead it stood over her and stared down at her, illuminating her in the pale green glow. She could only hold her breath and desperately try to think of any way out.

But before that could happen, something swung from the darkness and hit the clown in the back. It caused the clown to teeter, almost falling forward on Charlie, and made an incredibly loud clattering sound. Looking past it, she could see that John stood over it with one of the chairs from the tables in the dining room. The animatronic hesitated and so he raised the chair again and brought it down on it.

Except at the last moment its arm twisted back and that claw easily caught the chair by the seat and clamped down tightly. It yanked its shoulder forward, ripping it out of John's hands, almost hitting Charlie who just crawled back out of the way. The clown's arm dangled there for a moment before it slowly started to turn back towards him, green eyes glowing brighter with anger.

It was at that moment that Charlie heard something she never expected.

" _ **W-Wo-Wrrr…"**_ Through heavy static and crackling from deep in its chest she heard the faintest sound. _**"Wrrr-Wor-Wrrrthhhl-ss."**_ It was a voice. The animatronic was speaking. _**"Worthhhle-lesss th-thi-i-ing."**_

It seized back its arm and then threw the chair at John. He ducked to the side and out of the way, just dodging it, but the clown was now after him. He turned and ran into the dining room to try and lead it away, grabbing his flashlight and weaving through the tables. The melted clown crashed through chairs and tables alike as it hunted him down.

Hearing it speak had changed everything for Charlie though, because it wasn't a prerecorded message. At least, it didn't sound like it was. It sounded like an insult, a sign of sentience and some intelligence, and that meant that maybe there was another way to stop it. Because it was going to end up killing one of them and they didn't have the means to fight back with it raging like this.

Charlie had to figure something out as she fumbled blindly in the dark and got back to her feet.

John kept up the game of cat and mouse for a while. He moved erratically with sharp turns, circling the tables, listening as the clown crackled, hissed, and closed in behind him. He knew that his best bet was to go through the door as the passage was too narrow for the animatronic to follow quickly, but he had to give Charlie enough time to get away or it would turn on her once again.

It wasn't until its clawed hand scraped his jacket that he realized he had no choice but to go for the door. He threw the chair at the clown's feet and made a run for it. He got to the door in only a few seconds and threw it open, only to have his arm grabbed in the claw's tight vice. The clown yanked him back so aggressively that it nearly wrenched his arm out of socket and tried to throw him to the floor.

Forced to the floor, John turned over and kicked into the side of the clown's knee. The animatronic's leg briefly gave and it wobbled while he tried to twist free, but the melted monstrosity didn't fully buckle and its grip never wavered. In fact, it was getting steadily tighter. It yanked John closer to stare him in the eyes as its claw increased pressure. Enough to leave bruises, then cutting off circulation, and soon would break bone.

It suddenly tightened harder and John choked on the pain. Its eyes only glowed brighter in delight. It was only a matter of time until something gave and it was then that Charlie knew she had to step in.

"Circus Baby, stop!"

John noticed a reaction instantly. Baby flinched like she was startled and her eyes briefly flickered. Her head began to slightly tilt like she was confused and she began to turn back towards Charlie who was standing outside the security door. It watched her was an unreadable look, emotionless, and yet it still seemed perplexed. Charlie stood firm even while her heartrate quickened and she began to sweat under her clothes.

"Let him go," Charlie commanded. She tightened her fist at her side and held her ground. "Now, Circus Baby. Let him go."

Baby instantly released John's arm and dropped him to the floor, much to Charlie's relief. Except this didn't last long as the animatronic turned further towards her and then began to slowly glide towards her. The animatronic had taken the bait and was now boldly approaching her once again. That curious tilt and silent stare was almost as threatening as the aggressive pursuit had been.

Baby clearly wasn't following her commands because it had to. Charlie had very little control of this situation and still pushed on with the plan.

"Why are you doing this? I heard you talk, can you tell us why you're doing this?" she pressed. As it got closer she was cast into its shadow, only able to see it so well by the glow of its own eyes. It was through this that Charlie noticed all of the damage on the outside of its body and once it got close enough she suddenly realized something much more telling; it smelled like it had been burned recently. Charlie's eyes widened and without much thought she asked, "What happened to you, Baby?"

The clown stopped only a few feet in front of her and stared down at her. For a long moment it silently stared and Charlie kept her eyes locked on it, not wanting to tip it off to the fact that she could see John getting up. She watched it out of her peripheral vision as she continued to stand her ground, letting Baby roll ever closer, needing it to be within arm's reach.

Then, just like before, Baby spoke, _**"H-Heee b-rrrr-rrrned me-e."**_

Charlie's eyes widened in alarm. _"Was she at the restaurant when it burned down?"_ she thought. Then she focused on the 'he' and her heart sank. _"Could Michael have really-?"_

Her thoughts were abruptly cut off when Baby raised its hand towards her. She stayed still and watched cautiously, ready to jump back if it looked like it was about to hit her like it did to John. Instead it rested its hand on the side of her head, the sharp tips of its fingers poking into her scalp and then slowly dragging down the side of her face. Charlie's teeth clenched at the cold, harsh touch.

" _ **Su-Suuuch-ch pre-pret-t-ty hairrr…"**_ Baby said in a hushed tone. it was staring at her hair, not Charlie directly, mesmerized by the feel. Tangling its fingers in it and studying it close.

Up until it heard a soft squeak- the sound of John cautiously lifting another chair behind her. Baby's eyes snapped forward and it abruptly spun around, its hand ripping out of Charlie's hair and causing her to stumble.

Charlie recovered and while Baby's back was turned she thrust the taser into its back and pressed the button. All at once the voltage emptied into the animatronic and caused it to shudder and seize in place. As soon as the taser ran out of charge, Baby slumped where it stood, arms dropping to its sides and head falling forward. Only then did Charlie pull the taser back and run past to John's side.

"We have to find the others and get out of here!" Charlie called as she continued running to the door. John didn't argue and grabbed up his flashlight before taking after her. She paused at the door long enough to look back at Baby and notice that its eyes was flickering like it was malfunctioning. It was still on though and she had a bad feeling that single jolt wouldn't hold it back forever.

They were in way too deep. They had to get back to the surface.


	8. Haunted

Jessica clamored through the northward vent from the control module as fast as she could. Being that it was longer than the one to the Ballora Gallery, she could've believed that it would release directly into the Circus Gallery, but the map had already foretold that it wouldn't. Instead it led into a separate control room, this one with dark windows looking over the Circus Gallery.

The others started coming in behind her as Jessica looked for another vent. She almost thought she found one in seeing what looked like a flimsy cover under the control panel, but when she slid it aside she found nothing but an empty space and no way through. Now she was beginning to panic and quickly sprung back up.

"Dead end. Okay, new plan; back through the vent and we'll try the other one to that room over there, the auditorium. There's probably another door like the one in the gallery," Jessica rushed out. She hurried back to the vent and crouched down before Marla could come through the rest of the way, beckoning her back and beginning to follow her inside. "We've got to hurry."

A clanging noise caught both Carlton and Lamar's attention and they looked through the windows to see that now there was a light in the darkness. Specifically, a flashlight's light.

"Hey, I think I see them!" Lamar said. Jessica turned back in surprise as he reached out to knock on the glass. "Guys! Hey!" he called through the thick glass.

Charlie and John had just gotten through the hatch and closed it behind them but were unable to lock it. They had to make a break for it and Charlie briefly noticed the knocking and lights in the nearby windows. Though they went quickly forgotten when John's light fell on the door and revealed something unexpected propped in front of it, the empty Baby body.

"What the hell?!" John exclaimed. He quickly pushed Charlie back warily, expecting this animatronic to also get up and charge them. Charlie knew that it wouldn't.

"She blocked the door! We're going to have to find another way out!" she said. Then she looked towards the windows before grabbing John's wrist and running towards them. "Come on, this way!"

Jessica got back up and now she, Carlton, and Lamar were all leaning against the windows and stared down at the two who stopped underneath them. It was clear from how frantically Charlie was looking that she was trying to find a vent through just as Jessica had. The blond frantically knocked to get her attention and the brunette looked up to her.

"There's no vent in here! You have to go that way!" she yelled and pointed further down the room. "There should be a door to the auditorium!"

Charlie nodded and made a run for it with John lighting their way with the flashlight. To their relief there was a second door, or they assumed that was what was poking out from behind a mound of stacked gift boxes. They began to toss them aside with little care for the ones with things rattling around inside of them. Baby must've known the blockade wouldn't be difficult to get through and just tried to hide the door.

Right when they had gotten it uncovered enough to see the door handle, there was a resounding banging sound from back across the room. The green eyes glowing through the darkness gave away exactly what it was and the two scrambled to get the door open. Their friends could only watch in horror through the windows.

"Is that the endoskeleton?!" Jessica blurted out in shock. She kept looking in between her two friends and the approaching monstrosity. "They're not getting through! We have to do something!"

"We've got to get into that other room and make sure the other door isn't blocked off!" Lamar commanded. He ducked back down into the vent and began to climb through, driving Marla out the other side. "Guys, hurry it up! They don't have much time!" Jessica snapped out of her shock and followed. Carlton lingered a little longer to watch the scene in through the glass before following after them.

Baby had approached slowly at first, but the moment John started to pull the door open she broke into a skate. She rushed towards them so quickly that he could only get the door halfway open and tried to push Charlie through. She resisted though and instead spun around, half standing in front of him, and swung out the taser threateningly. Baby turned her skates and stopped with a loud squeak only ten or so feet away.

Then the clown just stood there and stared them down threateningly. Charlie stood her ground with the taser gripped tightly and her eyes locked onto the animatronics. She listened to John frantically get the rest of the boxes aside and then finally get the door open. He then looked back at the scene, took in the position they were in, and leaned close to Charlie's back to whisper.

"What's the plan? Do you want to hand me the taser and go in first?" he offered. She shook her head quickly.

"You go first. I'm right behind you." While it seemed like Charlie was being brave, what really held her in that spot was the fear that if she turned away, Baby would charge them. She couldn't take her eyes off of the clown for a second without risking their lives. Once John stepped into the passageway she backed in after him. "Don't follow us, Circus Baby. I don't want to hurt you," Charlie warned.

Baby twitched before replying through her broken voice. At first, Charlie wasn't sure what she said, but it started to make more sense the longer it lingered. _**"H-How muuc-c-ch ch-ch-chaarrrge is le-eft…?"**_

It almost sounded mocking, as though Baby didn't believe there was any left at all. Though she must've been somewhat wary as she continued to keep her distance and only rolled the slightest bit closer when Charlie backed into the passageway. John quickly slammed the door and they made a run for the next one. Surprisingly, Baby didn't barge after them.

Neither were willing to believe that it had given up. More than likely it was just biding its time, so they had to move quickly. They got to the other door quickly and John started to push it open only to find it caught up on something. He pushed with all of his strength as whatever was stacked up on the other side scraped on the floor. All the while Charlie could hear a different kind of scraping back from where they came. Almost like the sound of claws scraping along the door, taunting her. It chilled her to the bone.

But this was soon drowned out by the sound of voices, thumping, and scooting outside the door. Something was dropped aside with a loud bang as John finally got the door open halfway and slid through, pulling Charlie through after him. There was their friends who had just moved two heavy lockboxes that had been stacked and blocking the door.

Charlie was caught off-guard in a tight hug from Jessica while John slammed the door behind them. He waved Lamar and Carlton back over, as they were the ones who had moved the boxes. "Bring those back over. They'll buy us some time," he said. They didn't even question it and hefted the lock boxes back up. Charlie watched them do so when she suddenly had a revelation.

"Wait a minute, how could Baby block the door from both sides? She couldn't have," she said. Jessica pulled back to look and realized she was right. John was quick with an answer.

"That means there's another way through. That's why she didn't stop us from shutting her out, she's probably halfway to whatever door or vent she used last time," John said. He hurried past the two with his flashlight in his hand, face firm and determined, and intending to lead them all back to the elevator. Even with his confidence, Charlie wasn't entirely convinced. Especially not when Jessica voiced her thoughts.

"Or that means there's something else in here, just on this side of the door…" she murmured. She looked disturbed by her own words and quickly turned to Charlie. "He's right. We need to leave right _now_."

Charlie didn't disagree. Even if she hadn't found what she wanted to, she couldn't risk everyone's lives, including her own, in staying any longer. The last set of observation rooms would have to go unfounded. From what she could see in the light barely reflecting off the walls and tiles, there was a dark opening that looked like a security door right around where those additional rooms would've been. Disappointed but not suicidal, she turned away and followed alongside Jessica.

John reached the vent first but waited to make sure the others, including Charlie, caught up. Carlton took the lead and while holding Marla's hand again, he began to lean into the vent.

Then immediately swung back out and staggered a few steps away. He stared at the opening with wide eyes before muttering, "There's a baby in there."

"Baby's in there?! How could she move that fast?!" Marla exclaimed in surprise. Jessica reactively yanked Charlie back and even John seemed shocked, but Carlton quickly shook his head.

"Not Baby. No, that _is_ a baby- Sheez, it's coming out!" He pushed Marla back and waved for John to do the same as he distanced himself from the vent opening. Everyone looked on with baited breath.

Slowly, a head began to immerge from the opening, and just like Carlton said it looked almost like a baby. Or, more specifically, a baby doll. It had large eyes and a bald head, and Charlie recognized it as one of the small dolls posed with Baby in that poster she had seen before. Except something was wrong with it; its neck looked too long. The eyes rolled around to count out the people in the group.

" _It's her toys. They're here and she's not,"_ the baby doll creature said. _"…I wonder if she'd share?"_

Then a second voice spoke up. One that sounded like its own but more broken. **"Sh-She never shares… But She-e-e's not heeere."** Then the head started to slide out of the vent revealing a torso and arms that were harnessed by dark, oily wires. The next words that came out sounded like they came from further inside the vent. **"Leeet's pla-a-ay."**

"No, let's not play!" Carlton retorted. Though this plea fell on deaf ears when the source of the voices started to climb out of the shaft and reveal its full form.

The creature was not a baby doll at all, but a horrible amalgam of doll and animatronic pieces matted together with black wire. The doll torso was attached to the end of an arm where the elbow should've been. The other arm also held an identical doll, except that it was in worse shape, with one eye dangling loose, a missing arm, and a partially crushed torso. Both arms were attached to a larger torso of barely held together plates. Marla recognized it immediately as the chest of the ballerina in the poster, Ballora.

Its body lifted long enough to slide its legs free. They matched the chest in being long, feminine legs without feet. There were wires spilling into them too along with a thick pieces of piping that didn't look like they belonged inside of animatronics at all. It stepped out cautiously, daintily, touching the ground like a spider would. This was a painfully fitting analogy when its _second_ set of legs came out from behind it.

They didn't fit the ballerina body at all and were instead thicker, purple and white with large feet, and large gaps where wires fell through. They were much clunkier and as they dropped down from the vent they hit the floor with a loud thump. The whole body looked so fragile, like it was barely staying together, and yet it was even more grotesque than Baby's melted form had been. A body composed of leftover parts of animatronics, dolls, pipes, and what looked to be soundstage equipment.

The most unsettling part of all was its lack of a head. As though the two hand-puppet looking animatronics on the end of its arms were controlling the mess and misadjusted pieces. They turned their heads separately and studied the group close before the broken one stopped and nodded towards Lamar. **"I wa-a-ant thisss one."** Lamar's eyes widened as he took a step back with his hands defensively raised.

" _What about a girl? This one's close,"_ the other doll said. Marla clutched Carlton's hand tighter as the other's eyes fell on her. Both doll heads now turned to face her and him before the one quietly said, _"I spy someone even better. I don't think she would care if we took that one."_

If they were going on where they were looking, it was clear that the two meant Carlton. He pushed Marla back further and looked half prepared to start running, regardless of what the amalgam said about him. They took a few tentative steps, the bent ballerina legs leading the much less graceful ones. Then, before anyone could move or do anything, the amalgam swung its arm out and released the doll.

Still attached by a few feet with wires it wrapped around its chosen victim, the completely blindsided _John_.

He barely had a second before the wires snared around his neck and the doll clung to him. The amalgam then yanked him forward, throwing him to the floor, and then pounced on him before he could fight.

"John!" Marla cried in horror. Lamar was the first to race in and grabbed the back of the amalgam's body, trying to pull it back. It kicked up with its thick leg and stuck him across the gut, momentarily staggering him. Carlton also ran in at this point and went for its grip on John by grabbing at the baby doll. The creature made a mechanical hiss and hooked him with a ballerina leg to force them apart. Marla managed to swallow her fear enough to circle behind John and try to grab the wires around his neck.

All the while, Charlie prepared to run in with the taser and arrived just as Carlton and Marla had with full intention to help. She almost dug the too into the thing's main torso when she suddenly caught herself. She remembered how Baby had seized from the attack and knew the taser must've been powerful. Which meant that everyone currently touching the amalgam, including John himself, could get the brunt of it too.

"Charlie, do it!" Jessica called behind her. Charlie was frantic, standing there unsure and trying to think of another way, and finally calling back.

"I can't! It'll hit everyone!" she said. Jessica realized she was right and seemed to grow pale. Though not nearly as pale as when something suddenly slammed against the blocked door so hard that it moved the boxes back. Charlie knew exactly what it was trying to break through and it was arriving at the worst possible time. "Jess, get behind me! I can't shock _that_ but I can shock her!"

Jessica nodded and ran past. She now faced her friends fighting off the animatronic and felt helpless, wanting to help but not knowing how and not even having an opening with how it kicked and flailed. It seemed like John could still breathe because he had fit his fingers underneath the wires, but they were quickly losing circulation.

The doll dangling on his chest gave a cryptic, _"She's coming!"_ before he fought it back with the butt of his flashlight.

All while this was going on, Charlie was watching in the direction of the door as the light flickered by it from the flashlight being tussled. She might've not been able to see the door but she could clearly hear it as it was hit with incredible strength and the boxes dragged against the tile floor. When one just happened to fall off she knew the struggle would be over. It was just enough that Baby could force her weight and slowly slide the door open in one motion.

The glow from her eyes fell over her body eerily. It only seemed to grow brighter upon seeing Charlie and focused intensely upon her. It was almost too much to bear.

"Gah!" Lamar exclaimed as he was somehow knocked to the floor. She looked back in time to see one of the amalgam's back feet holding him down, but it looked like he was already squeezing from the weak grip.

She then turned ahead again to see that Baby had silently moved closer. Now she was less than ten feet away and still staring at Charlie with that fixated look. As disturbing as the amalgam was and as bad of a situation as it put the others in, she knew it was nothing compared to Baby. It could tie up her friends and tug of war against them, but it was Baby who could crush bones with a single snap of her claw.

But she noticed that once again Baby was only watching her. That gave her an idea; a risky one, but one that could guarantee her friends' safety.

" _Maybe if I make a run for it she'll follow me. I can lose her in the observation rooms and give the others enough time to get John free,"_ Charlie thought. Though there was a warning in the back of her mind that this could go very badly. That she might not be fast enough to outrun Baby. _"…And I don't really have much of a choice. She's… She's not afraid enough of the taser to keep from getting closer. All it would take is me losing sight for a second-."_ Her thoughts stalled at Marla's frantic cry and a sound like Carlton grunting. _"…I have to get rid of her."_

Before her nerves could get the best of her, Charlie called back to Jessica. "Jess, I need the light."

"Which one? John? Mine?"

"Any of them." She held her hand back and Jessica put the small cat light into her grasp. It wasn't much but it would work well enough, she hoped.

"What are you going to do?" Jessica cautiously asked. Charlie took a deep breath.

"Something really stupid."

Then darted across the auditorium towards the open security door. Once again, Baby took the bait- or perhaps had no interest in any of the others except for her- and took after her. She skated quickly across the tiles and closed in on her target. Charlie could hear Jessica screaming after her, hear Baby closing in, hear her heart pounding in her ears, but ignored it all as she disappeared through the door. Baby was quick after her.

Jessica could only look on in shock and in a moment of irrational panic considered going after them. The only thing that interrupted this was a newfound choking noise.

Just as Carlton and Marla had started to unwind the wires from John- and Lamar had finally gotten unpinned from the amalgam's legs, which still stomped at him- the more broken doll let out a cry. **"You'r-r-re ruin-ruini-ing every-verything!"** Then was slung forward by its arm and directly onto Carlton's shoulder. He tried to rip it off as it crawled over him with nothing more than a single arm and a knot of wires, but failed to pull it free before it wrapped its line around his neck.

Carlton jammed his fingers under it like John had, but unlike John he had missed catching a single wire which quickly cinched around his throat. By time Jessica heard him he was already gasping for air. Marla was now trying to get the wires off of him while the other two ganged up on the amalgam. It was clear that the amalgam wouldn't give up even though outnumbered and screamed at them with a voice mixed between a child throwing a tantrum, a wild animal, and scraping metal.

They needed to cut the wires if they were going to free themselves for good. Jessica frantically squinted at the crumbled-up map in the darkness and just barely spotted the parts and service room nearby. Swallowing her fear, she ran up to her friends and grabbed John's flashlight off the floor beside him before running into the darkness. He called after her, "Jess!?"

"I'll be right back!" Jessica answered. She continued to sprint across the long stretch of the auditorium. While she could still hear them fighting behind her, she couldn't hear anything of what happened to Charlie. That almost seemed worse than if she could've heard Baby still crashing around, searching for Charlie. She was able to shake her thoughts and focus on the task at hand as she arrived at the parts and service door.

The room was small with a few shelves of tools, a mount for animatronics to be repaired on, and an automated conveyor that led out of the room. Jessica's focus was directed to the shelves first and foremost and she began to search them for a tool that would help them cut the wires. There were a few overfilled toolboxes, animatronic replacement parts, even another taser that Jessica picked up and tested, only to set it back down when she realized its battery was dead.

"There have to be wire cutters in here somewhere… This?" She picked up a pair of small clippers. "A good start but not enough. There has to be something stronger."

She began to shove tools aside on the messy shelf, dust clinging to her skin and sharp tips poking into her palm, until her hand almost landed on a jagged toothed blade. She shined the light over it and realized that it was a handsaw. It lacked a cord and instead seemed to have a battery pack attached to it. It was more heavy with the pack but Jessica was still able to lift it up relatively easily.

She slid on the power switch, held down the safety button, and pulled the trigger to find the saw whirring to life. "This should work. I might lose a finger trying to use this thing, but it should work."

A small giggle caused Jessica to freeze in place. Not just because it sounded young and childish, almost like the doll amalgam had sounded, but because it came from above her. She slowly looked up.

There was a small, white face peeking out from an upper shelf. It had a hollow head with a wide, dark smile and as it leaned out further she could see that its body looked like an artist's mannequin. Jessica took a cautious step back, which instantly triggered the doll's eyes to light up with yellow irises. Its only warning was a hiss before it suddenly leapt off the shelf and down onto her.

Jessica screamed and shielded her head quick enough that the doll landed on her arm. She tried to sling it off before being caught off-guard by a second doll diving off the shelf and onto her torso. It eagerly climbed up towards her face and she tried to knock it off with the weight of the handsaw. It slid around her shoulder and tried to escape to her back, and she barely caught its leg with the hand holding the flashlight.

More dolls ran out from the bottom shelf and began to circle around her feet. By now Jessica was getting overwhelmed as the dolls tried to get to her face, so much so that she didn't notice the dolls getting behind her feet and bracing their arms together to trip her up. She fell back with her elbow hitting the conveyor on the way down and her dropping the handsaw. Now on the floor, the dolls swarmed her and clung to her, resisting most of her attempts to get them off.

One of the dolls became interested in the handsaw and started to play around with the buttons. Jessica noticed it just in time and kicked the doll off before grabbing the handsaw again. Finally getting an upper hand, Jessica struck a second doll with the flashlight and lodged it free. Then she got to her feet and ran to the door, managing to snatch one of the dolls off her hair and wedge the other in the door as she shut it, forcing it to release and shutting them away once and for all. She could still hear their hisses and clawing at the door.

Jessica ran back to the others before they could figure out how to get the door open. She tossed John's flashlight into Lamar's hands and started turning on the handsaw. "Hold the wires tight!"

Marla didn't need any more explanation. She stopped trying to free the wires from Carlton's neck and instead grabbed the section between him and the amalgam and tried to hold it still. The amalgam realized what was going and suddenly tugged the wires tightly, the doll being yanked up against Carlton's neck and Marla pulling back being the only thing offering resistance.

Jessica swung down the handsaw and slowly shredded through the wires. There was a loud crackling pop as they broke apart and recoiled back into the creature's arm. Marla immediately turned and helped Carlton unwind himself from the tangle. The doll dropped helplessly to the floor as Carlton gulped in air and scrambled to his feet.

But they weren't safe yet. Seeing him out of harm's way only encouraged John to grab the second doll and twist it around his body to bear its wiring to Jessica. His free hand desperately holding the amalgam's torso back. "Jess, right here!" he exclaimed. She didn't need to be told twice and quickly dragged the handsaw through the wires with another quick crackle.

This time they found a very different result waiting. The amalgam which had been shoved up against John's back, trying to forcefully climb over him with its ballerina legs hooking around his, froze up the moment the second doll dropped to the floor. Then its body went slack against him, all of its weight falling onto his back and sliding to the floor as he ducked out from under it. The thing was completely unresponsive.

"Stay back! It might still be playing dead!" Lamar warned. John and Jessica took his advice and moved further from its form as he shined the light over it. He could see the black cords, its innards, spilling out of its plates and onto the floor and cringed. "Look at that, it's just wires and junk on the inside. I get that there's a real psycho running around here, but why would he make it so… Disorganized?"

"I don't know. The other one's not much better, Baby, it looks like it was burned… And I'm thinking it must've been in that pizzeria when it burned down," John revealed and Lamar was shocked. John's concerns shifted the moment he mentioned Baby and he turned to Jessica and asked, "We need to find Charlie before Baby does."

"She ran into the observations rooms! That door over there, it should lead back there, somewhere. Baby was right behind her," the blond rambled as she shut off the handsaw.

"Then we need to go now-."

" _Look what you've done!"_ John and Jessica looked over quickly to see the more complete doll crawling beside the fallen amalgam. It began to beat its hands angrily on the floor. _"You broke our toy, you big bully! You don't play nice, you don't play fair!"_ the doll yelled. It suddenly twisted its head with a loud crack as its glare fell on Jessica.

It made a hissing noise somewhat unlike the dolls in the parts and service room before its facial plates suddenly spread wide to reveal the metal underneath. It began to crawl speedily at her with a threatening cry.

Only for Marla to notice and abruptly run forward and kick the doll so hard that it skidded into the darkness and disappeared. She had a tight glare on her face and snapped her head towards the incomplete doll with a challenging look and found that it was already struggling to crawl away, seemingly unwilling to risk getting kicked as well. Marla then turned back towards her friends with her concern returning.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find her!"

* * *

Everything was a blur once Charlie went through the open door. She passed through an office and down a hallway to the back room. It was hard to remember the map when she was this frantic but she was certain the hatch had been at the back. She shined the tiny light over the back wall until she found it, let herself through, and closed it behind her, then hurried through the passage and to the next door.

Charlie was no longer surprised to step from tile floor onto carpet. If anything it was expected and she didn't bat an eye when she shined around the light and saw the same false familial décor. This time she didn't have time to look for long as she shut the door behind her and kept moving. There were two hallways to her right but she only had a chance to choose one, and that was the closest one. She sprinted down the hall and to a lone door at the end and to the left.

The door was gaped open and she pushed through it to find herself in another fake bedroom. This one was larger than the one with the hospital bed, but styled rather similarly. To her right there was a large bed that was made up, but didn't seem to be in use, and a nightstand with a turned off lamp. To her left were two dressers, one topped with another lamp, scattered toys, and wide closet doors. Across from her was another door identical to the one she came through.

" _That must go to the other hallway,"_ she realized. She didn't get much more time to think as it was at that exact moment that she heard the sounds of Baby making it through the hatch. Her hang-ups with doors had only gotten Charlie this far but now her time was limited. She quietly shut the bedroom door and ran towards the one on the other side before stopping suddenly. _"Wait a minute. Baby's going to know I came through here. If I hide but she thinks I went out the other door, I might lose her long enough to get back to everyone."_

This seemed like the best plan. With how fast and relentless Baby was, when not slowed by tight spaces or doors, it was only a matter of time before Charlie accidentally got herself into a corner she couldn't run out of. Losing Baby was the best option and she looked around for a hiding place. _"The closet's a little obvious, but I don't think I can get under the bed in time."_

This was only stressed further when she heard the sound of Baby coming down the hallway, only slightly slowed by the carpet underneath her wheels. The closet would have to work and Charlie quickly hid inside.

The closet was claustrophobic from the moment Charlie stepped inside. Shirts were hung in a row looking nearly identical except for their colors, obviously just for show. There were a few small boxes stacked around the floor of the closet. Just enough to make the space feel even tighter. Though nothing compared to when she shut the flashlight off and was swallowed by the darkness. It was suffocating.

It wasn't more than a few seconds later that Baby got in through the door. She scanned the room in one quick swoop before her eyes fell on the opposite door- her eyes which illuminated everything she was doing for Charlie to see through the door crack- and rushed for it. Within seconds Baby was out into the opposite hall and heading away from her prey.

But there wasn't even enough time to breath a sigh of relief before Charlie heard her stop in the hall. She could hear the silence through the wall as the animatronic stood there, listening, thinking, and then much to her horror, turned around and slowly returned to the fake bedroom. This time, Baby did not take the bait. She had grown suspicious of the ruse.

Charlie watched through the crack as the green light slowly flooded the room again. Baby turned her head slowly to get a full panoramic view of the bedroom. It wouldn't be long before she noticed the closet.

" _ **Whe-rrrrrre arr-re you?"**_

Charlie was beginning to grow panicked and tried to think of a way out. Throwing open the doors and running out would only work if Baby got far enough from one of the doors. Even now she drifted into the center of the room, seemingly guarding them. The taser was an option to keep Baby back, but that didn't mean she would let Charlie by. Even using the taser required her to get incredibly close and equally lucky. Charlie looked around the closet for an answer and found boxes.

Once Baby was sure that the woman couldn't be under the bed, she turned her gaze towards the closet melted clown's eyes seemed to glow brighter with budding excitement and slowly rolled up to them. Her hand rested on the door, fingers slipping into the crack, and then in one quick motion she yanked the door back… But there was nobody inside.

The animatronic scanned the inside of the closet quickly but just found hanging shirts and stacked boxes. Little did she know that Charlie was behind one of these stacks, crouched down in the corner behind a makeshift mound, hoping this would hide here long enough for Baby to become convinced that she wasn't in there. If it didn't, she still had the taser in her hands while she struggled to keep her breathing quiet.

The clown's sharp fingers scraped along the wood of the door as Baby leaned in further. The green glow fell over most of the closet and Charlie watched it closely to help her judge where Baby was looking. Her gaze dragged over the closet before falling suspiciously close to the small barricade of boxes. It was arranged to look inconspicuous; it would've been believable if she didn't suspect someone was in here.

Just then Baby lurched upright and stood at attention. She stared blankly towards the back of the closet, completely still, and Charlie thought her cover had been blown. That was, until she heard a voice.

"Charlie?" It was Jessica, and she probably wasn't alone.

Baby made a chuffing noise, robotic and impatient, but then said in a very calm tone, _**"Waiiii-t he-here."**_ She yanked the closet doors shut before Charlie could even feel the weight of those words.

Baby slipped out of the room quickly but was now moving so quietly that she made little more than a squeak while doing so. Charlie realized that was how Baby had followed them so long undetected, she was at least smart enough to stay silent, which meant that the others could be easily ambushed. Charlie hurriedly climbed out of the closet and rushed after the animatronic.

John and Jessica entered the darkened room cautiously. He held the handsaw, she held the flashlight, and they both looked shaken in their own ways. Though not only from the amalgam they had just faced, but from the creature they were about to face. Both of them knew what they were doing when they stepped through the hatch, which was why the others stayed behind on the outside. This time it would be them putting themselves on the line for Charlie's sake. They mutually agreed to do this.

"Charlie!" Jessica called again. There was no answer and she turned worriedly to John. "She should be hearing us. These observation rooms aren't that big."

"She might not be in a position to call back. She could be hiding," John suggested. He kept a firm face and tried to ignore the gnawing thought that something worse could've happened. That Charlie wasn't physically capable of calling back. He inched towards the first door on the right when he heard a dull squeak. "Did you hear that?" Jessica paused to listen and he held out his hand. "Here, hand me back the light-."

The moment John had his back turned, a dark form charged out of the hallway and slammed into his back. "John!" Jessica cried as he staggered momentarily. He recovered fast enough to turn on the handsaw and spin towards Baby, but the meager threat did little to detour her. She smacked his hand aside and threw him back against the wall, her claw opening wide enough to pin him there by the neck.

Jessica gasped loudly at the horror she was witnessing and this was what finally drew Baby's attention to her. Still holding John to the wall, using the weight of her claw to hold his chest down and the teeth to threaten the tender skin, she slowly turned her head and stared down the new woman. Even without expression, Baby's gaze seemed to hold a silent warning for her to stay back.

It was at that moment that Charlie stepped out of the hallway and saw what was transpiring. Baby had her back towards her and was fully focused on staring down Jessica while holding John in a very dangerous position. This time she knew she had to risk using the taser and just hope that the shock wouldn't reach John.

Adrenaline rushing and fear for her friends' life numbing her nerves, she began to carefully inch closer. The taser tight in her grasp, her boots nearly silent on the carpet, keeping her eyes trained on Baby's back.

Even when Jessica saw Charlie approaching she didn't break eye contact with Baby. Both to not tip her off and because she almost in a trace, afraid to break eye contact and set off some chain of reactions. John was a little more crafty in his response. The moment he saw Charlie he grabbed at Baby's claw with his hand and tried to fight with it. Not to free himself- it was clear that she didn't plan on letting him up- but to make himself into a distraction.

But the clown was too busy staring at Jessica. She noticed a subtle movement and lowered her gaze to the clown's arm that was slowly adjusting itself, as though she was bracing herself for something. Turning her arm and adjusting her legs to prepare herself for something. Yet as far as it would've known, it had gotten control over both her and John, so whatever it was bracing itself for-.

Charlie, Jessica realizes at the last moment. That was why it was holding John against the wall like this, why it hadn't just clamped straight through his neck and been done with it. It was drawing Charlie closer.

The moment she figured this out, Jessica tried to speak up, "No, wait-!" But it was already too late.

Baby's free arm twisted backwards and swiped back like a viper. In that split-second Charlie drew back the taser to keep it from getting knocked from her hands again and stepped back. Then she ducked down and swiped for Baby's torso, the taser almost making contact and her thumb still hovering over the button, but just ghosted the metal. Baby made a grab for her arm but once again Charlie was too quick, dropping into a crouch and half-stumble half-crawling just out of Baby's reach.

In a chilling moment, Charlie had felt Baby's fingers slide through her hair as she grabbed for her and almost thought she had been caught, but the claw couldn't keep its grip.

Charlie stood alongside Jessica and they both stared back at the animatronic and tried to desperately think of a plan. Charlie had a tool she couldn't get close enough to use and Jessica only had John's flashlight. They could only watch powerlessly as John was clamped tighter in Baby's grasp. It didn't help that Baby herself was becoming more riled, twitching like a crazed animal, making her look even more broken.

That was, until the handsaw suddenly clattered against the wrist holding her claw. Baby's head turned just in time to watch as it sliced through a loosened wire on top. The animatronic shrieked and slung its arm to throw John aside before protectively drawing its arm in, almost by reflex, its green eyes scanning the cut cord. John spared no time in making a run for it while he had the chance.

"Let's get out of here!" he called ahead. The two women turned and ran for the hatch as well and through the passageway. Baby pursued them closely with her voice so garbled and distorted that her threats weren't clear. They were almost more menacing than when Charlie could understand them.

"Watch your step!" Jessica warned before running out the other side. Charlie quickly noticed a thin bundle of dark cords laying in front of the door that hadn't been their earlier. She stepped over them and out of the passageway before looking back to see Carlton, Marla, and Lamar crouched on either of the opening and holding the wires like a rope.

John immediately dropped down alongside Lamar and across from Carlton and Lamar. He took ahold of the wires as well and then turned to Charlie and Jessica. "Keep going! We've got this!"

Charlie was reluctant to leave them but Jessica grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her along. She decided to trust their plan and follow along back to the office and auditorium. The remaining four only had a few seconds before Baby made her way out of the passageway and right before she did they pulled tight.

The animatronic hit the cords with a weight they weren't anticipating. It was enough to yank them forward and drag them on the tiles but didn't knock Baby down. Desperate and unwilling to let her get a chance to turn on them, John sprung to his feet and charged her, ramming her in the back with his shoulder. It was like throwing himself against an empty furnace, as hard as metal and wafting the odor of ash. By some sheer luck, between that, the wires, and her wobbly frame, this toppled Baby over the edge.

The melted clown collapsed to the floor with a resounding clatter. Without an exchanged word, the four made a run for it. Lamar was in the back and while her couldn't see her- Carlton's meager light lighting the way and nothing else- he could already hearing her getting back up behind them.

By this time, Charlie and Jessica had made it back to the vent into the Control Module. Jessica had started to climb inside when she was stopped. "Wait," Charlie said. She dug into her pocket and pulled out the cat light, which she had stashed away earlier, and handed it over. "Let's trade."

Jessica quickly handed over John's flashlight and took hers back then started to climb into the vent again. Only to pause when she noticed that Charlie was looking back towards the door. "You're coming, right?"

"I'm going to wait for the others, but you go on ahead and make sure the elevator's still there," Charlie said. Jessica nodded and started to hurry through, and she had just gotten into the Control Module when Carlton came sprinting through the security door, Marla behind him, and John and Lamar behind her.

Carlton reached the vent first but let Marla go before him. Lamar went next and John looked to Charlie expectantly. "Let me go last. I can keep her back with the taser," she told him.

"Really? Because she didn't bat an eye back at the house," John retorted.

"Because she had you and she knew-." Charlie was cut short by a steadily growing sound echoing into the auditorium. The best way to describe it would be to say it sounded like heavy machinery, and technically it was, echoing out of Baby's ever-approaching speaker. She could see the green glow appear through the door and pushed John. "Get in! _Get in quick!_ "

This time he didn't argue and nearly dove into the vent. He crawled so quickly that by time Charlie got inside he was already out the other side and waiting. She crawled after him with the taser in one hand and the flashlight in the other, and he helped her to her feet on the other side. Baby hit the other side of the vent so violently that it nearly shook the wall and climbed in without even a second to recover. John and Charlie hurried into the next vent and crawled the stretch to the elevator.

Charlie had hoped the tight space would slow Baby down, but she was terribly wrong. She was only halfway down the shaft when the melted monstrosity quickly gained on her. Only a few feet to freedom when it grabbed her boot and twisted it aggressively, like she was trying to break her ankle. Charlie was forced to turn over and quickly shined the light past her legs to see the claw that had her boot in a vice.

Baby flinched back at the light like it hurt her eyes, but the recovered just as quickly, and yanked her prey back closer.

"Charlie!" John called back. He started trying to climb back in after here. "Grab my hand!"

" _ **D-D-Don't leeeeave me,"**_ Baby said. It sounded sweet and soft, and Charlie didn't buy it for a second. The voice then took a sinister tone. _**"I-I-I c-can show-w you wha-a-at he- he did- he did t-t-to us."**_ Us?

But this comment was disregarded as another powerful yanked pulled Charlie further into the vent. She knew this was a precarious situation. "Circus Baby-," her firm tone was cut off by another sharp yank. The commanding tone wasn't going to work either and it was now that she knew she had to fight back.

The next time that Baby pulled her down, Charlie had the taser ready and planted it right on the damaged wrist before pressing down the button to empty the volts into the animatronic's arm.

But the only thing that came on was a small, flashing, red light on the side of the taser to warn that it was out of charge. This whole time Charlie had been walking around with a dead taser, unknowingly bluffing her way into some form of defense. One that was now literally wrenched from her grasp by the clown.

" _ **D-Doesn't w-rk withtho-out a cha-arrge,"**_ Baby spat. No longer afraid of the object, she took it into her non-claw hand and squeezed. Even in this weaker hand the taser's case cracked under her grip. _**"D-Dum-my."**_

Baby then began to slide backwards before ripping Charlie along with her, preparing to forcibly drag her back into the control room. John swore and tried to crawl in after them, reaching out for Charlie who was too busy trying to brace herself on the walls of the vent. It wasn't working though, not with the clown's strength as it slid back and dragged her further. Charlie was beginning to panic.

" _If she gets me out of the vent, she'll kill me! There's got to be something I can do!"_ The only thing she had to fight with was her free leg and she shined the flashlight down to look for a chance to kick at the claw holding her. Though before she could, Baby twitched again and momentarily turned her head down. _"Does the light bother her?"_ She didn't seem to have a trouble being in the light, but when it was directed at her eyes she always gave that full body twitch. Almost like she was malfunctioning.

It was only now that Charlie realized how damaged Baby's eyes were. The optics no longer had any protective covering and their glow came solely from the irises. Nothing was shielding them from direct light and if that was somehow effecting something deeper- off the top of her head, Charlie guessed her servosystem- it might cause something to malfunction. She turned the light away before shining it into Baby's eyes.

Baby shuddered harder this time and made a crackling noise from deep in her chest. This time Charlie wouldn't let her recover and began to click the light on and off, flashing it into the clown's eyes, and watching as the tiny twitches turned into full convulsions. It was almost as effective as the taser had been. Still clicking the light, Charlie started trying to climb backwards but found that Baby's claw was still tight on her boot.

She reached back blindly for John's hand. "John, pull me out! Quick!"

"Got it!" He grabbed her hand and turned back. "Guys, I've got her! Pull me out!"

With the others pulling John, who held Charlie tight with both hands, she started to slide further upwards. Still she focused on flashing the light on Baby who was now shaking and clattering so badly that she couldn't hear the others over the banging. Finally, the animatronic regained enough control to flail, but all it did was succeed in freeing Charlie enough that the others could pull her free.

The flashlight only broke contact once Charlie was dragged out of the vent and pulled to her feet. Within seconds they were all piling into the elevator and rushing to the keypad to get it moving. They seemed to be having trouble getting it to respond, but she wasn't paying much attention, instead watching the vent opening with her flashlight ready.

It wasn't long before she heard the hurried scraping of Baby's frantic crawling and saw the dull flickers of green light. Then the animatronic appeared once more before her. Charlie felt her heart sink into her stomach as she watched it try to follow them, except now the clown seemed labored. It seemed like it was struggling to move its body and yet it still pressed on. Something this damaged and broken continued to obsessively chase her for no discernable reason.

It hunted them mercilessly, cunningly. It was smart enough to separate them and block their means of escape. It was capable of speech. This should've been both the most terrifying and most incredible feat of animatronic technology that had ever been created. In fact, it was beyond basic animatronic technology. This was much more advanced than anything that could've been programmed. Like she was _alive._

The elevator door finally slammed shut and nearly closed on Charlie. She barely noticed it and instead looked out the window to see that Baby was now in a struggle. At first glance it looked like she was stuck, but then she started to slide back into the vent, like something was pulling her back in. She wondered if it was the doll amalgam, though doubted it as she had seen most of its remains in the auditorium.

Charlie's view was cut off before she could see what became of Baby.

"… _That's_ what sends the elevator up?! The big, red, STOP button?!" Carlton vented in disbelief from behind. Jessica was currently slumped against the wall while Marla was anxiously rubbing over her face and muttering under her breath. Carlton continued, "That thing could've killed us back there and we couldn't even get the doors shut!"

"Which one?" Lamar asked dryly. This got a low groan out of Marla and he patted her on the back. "But it's okay. Let's just stay focused. We're almost out of here. We can think about all this later."

"We will have a lot of time to think about this in group therapy," John remarked. He exhaled slowly and tried to keep his calm just in case they still weren't out of the woods. He then turned to Charlie and noticed how she was still silently standing beside the door. "Are you okay, Charlie?" he offered more gently.

"He was right…" Charlie said quietly. Almost more to herself than then.

"Michael?" John guessed. He was still suspicious about him but had to admit that he was at least honest about something. John didn't get a chance before she turned to face him.

"Not him. I'm talking about Schmidt, the guy who used to work as a night guard, who works- worked at Freddy's," Charlie said with a grim and shaken look. "He was right. The animatronics are haunted."

And after they had seen that night, nobody was willing to disagree with it. The rest of the elevator ride was taken in complete silence.


	9. Chapter 9

If there was any word to describe the mood in the elevator as it opened its doors to the first floor it would've been "dismal". It was a grim and foreboding feeling that left them feeling unsafe, very much like the inside of Afton Robotics as a whole. Stepping out into the sun nearly blinded them after so much time in the darkness and the chill was immediately replaced by a dry heat. It was barely comforting.

They shut the door without much faith it would hold anything in before leaving, and it wasn't until they were walking back around the building towards the parking lot that the silence was broken.

"What do we do now?" Marla asked tentatively. Nobody jumped with an answer. "Do we tell anyone? _Can_ we tell anyone?"

"Whose going to believe us? We just got attacked by a robot clown in an underground bunker that looks like a pizzeria. They weren't even willing to believe something was going on at Freddy's when people were going missing there daily," John pointed out. He then tiredly added, "…But we need to at least try and tell Clay."

"Doesn't help that we were technically trespassing. I can't even tell my dad or he'll fixate on that. Or if I say anything about Will, you remember how much he flipped about that," Carlton lightly vented. His lack of confidence in his father made everyone else a lot less certain about their chances. "…Maybe this is why nobody figured out what happened. Nobody would've believed any of this."

Charlie was still silent, but that was because her thoughts were still racing. More of those pieces were clicking together and leading to an unsatisfactory picture. Separate pictures that showed similar but unconnected events. Michael's brother being kept in the basement, living animatronics being hidden in Freddy's, Freddy's burning down under suspicious circumstances- they were all loosely connected but there was still so much missing, and now there really was nowhere else to turn.

Once they got out into the parking lot, Jessica noticed Charlie's continued silence and approached her about it. "Are you going to be okay?" she quietly asked, not wanting to tip off the others and risk making this anymore awkward. "That was… There was a lot going on down there."

"I'll be fine. I just need to get my head straight," Charlie assured her distantly. "…I think maybe I need some time alone. Not because of anything you guys did, I just… You know, I need to work some things out."

"No, I understand. That's totally understandable," Jessica reassured with a small smile. She tried to hide her hesitation. "You're going back to the house?"

"Where else would I go?" Charlie didn't mean for that to come out as distantly as it did. Seeing Jessica's frown she quickly corrected it, "I mean- I'm not going back to the library or to Jen's or… Freddy's, or anything like that. I just need a little time to get my head together before we figure out what's next."

"Smart plan," John said. She hadn't even realized he had been listening in. "If we go to Clay without our story straight, he's not going to take us seriously. We can meet up later and decide what we're going to do."

"I don't think there's anything we can say that's going to convince anyone in this town," Carlton admitted. Nobody directly commented to this but nobody disagreed with it either. Instead, John turned to Charlie.

"How about I spare you the trouble of taxiing everyone around and let you head home. I've got nowhere to be," he offered with a tired smile. She almost shot him down, but upon seeing how sincere he was and without a shred of pity, she decided to take the offer.

"Thanks, if you don't mind. I can still take Carlton to get his car though… Thanks for this." Charlie's eyes met John with a small smile of her own, one both of thankfulness and a shred of regret. "Thanks for everything. I'm sorry I dragged all of you into this."

"I said it before, I'll say it again. I'm here because I want to be," John said, his voice a bit lower. He looked at her with a newfound adoration as he considered what they went through. "I'm just glad you're safe."

Charlie didn't know what to say to that. Thankfully, she was spared having to come up with an answer by Jessica giving her a tight, one-armed hug. "He's right," she said. "…But we should probably get out of here as fast as we can before either something comes out or someone drives up, so we're leaving. Like, right now. And we're never coming back."

"What, are you sure? I think this place would be great for birthday parties. Screw Freddy's, we'll just rent a clown and play with some dirty hospital equipment," Carlton added in. "…Okay, even I know that one was too soon, but humor me. I'm the one whose going to have to explain to my mom why there's a big bruise ring around my neck."

"Clowns. I'm not even afraid of clowns and now I'm never going to be able to see one again without seeing that thing's claw swinging around," Lamar muttered as he started to get into the passenger's side of John's car. He hesitated a long moment before calling out, "At least we all know why Baby's really closed. That's one mystery solved, gang."

As disturbing as it was, he was right, and nobody- except maybe Charlie- was concerned with ironing out the extra details. Jessica followed his example and got into the car with John following after giving Charlie one more, "I'll see you later." Marla didn't join with them, which didn't surprise anyone, and instead got in the backseat of Charlie's car as they drove back towards the house.

Marla fussily checked and poked at Carlton's neck from the backseat as he sat in the passenger seat. "Yeah, that's all going to turn purple. I've got some concealer back at the house if you want to try and cover it up," she offered.

"Thanks. That'll spare me the grilling from my folks. They're not around enough to look too close so just enough to get me through walking past them in the hallway and occasionally dinner," Carlton answered. Charlie felt unsettled by the suggestion of continuing to hide this from his parents, especially when his parents were the only ones who could do something about it.

"Clay might be the only one who'll believe us. I know you and him have your differences, but Carlton, he worked on the Freddy's case. He's the one that knows about William Afton and what he did."

"If I thought he would take me seriously for even a second, I'd tell him the second I got home," Carlton admitted. He propped his arm on the door and stared out the window. "This isn't just me putting my problems with my dad in front of getting real help, I just don't think he'd listen to us. Not with how quick he shut down when we were talking about Afton. And that was after I said-…" He trailed off before his eyes started to slowly widen. "Oh geez…"

"What?" Marla asked. She leaned through the seats to see his dread filled expression. "What, what is it? You didn't leave something down there, did you?"

"We just got attacked by a crazed robot that came out of a burning pizzeria-!" Carlton exclaimed. "-And now I'm going to sleep in a house with another one in the basement?! That bear came out of the fire too!"

It was then that Charlie suddenly remembered that black bear. That black bear that had been hidden behind a curtain inside of the pizzeria. The one that Schmidt, a man who had been around animatronics that moved without reason, thought was haunted like them. The one that had looked at her and shook her to the core just like Baby had, and just like her somehow survived that blaze.

She had to see it. "The bear's still down in your basement…?"

"Should be, unless Dad moved it," Carlton said. He quirked a brow. "Why?"

"What do you think about making an unexpected pitstop?"

Within a few minutes, the car had changed course and instead of driving to Charlie's house they parked outside of Carlton's. Instead of letting them inside, he immediately led them around the back of the house.

In hindsight, this was almost as shady as sneaking into Afton's, but at least it was Carlton who climbed down through the basement window first. Technically it wasn't breaking in entering if he lived there and invited them inside, it was just wrong on other levels. Not to mention that if Clay found out he would probably put his son on thin ice. They had to be quick.

Carlton climbed in quickly and stepped down on some boxes before dropping smoothly to the floor. He headed over to the light switches at the bottom of the stairs and clicked them on. "Alright, coast's clear."

Charlie climbed down first and managed to make it down without much trouble. Marla wasn't as lucky, probably because the clothes she was wearing weren't exactly as versatile for squeezing through a tight space. Her skirt got caught on the edge of the window and then she had to struggle with it while trying to lower herself. Then, because she was shorter than the others, she didn't reach the boxes quite as fast.

All the while Carlton just watched with an amused smirk, listening to Marla mutter in frustration under her breath. Eventually she gave an audible huff and called down, "Couldn't you have just unlocked the basement and let us come in that way?"

"I guess, but where's the fun in that?" Carlton teased. She groaned and managed to lower enough that her foot was brushing the box. "Besides, dad might have some sort of motion detector rigged up down here."

"Oh great. First I get dirt all over my shirt and now I'm going to jail. Just know that if your dad catches us, I'm ratting you out," Marla said. She then dropped fully onto the box with a small 'oomph'. Finally Carlton stepped in to offer a hand and help her down.

While they were doing this, Charlie had been looking around the basement. She could see Clay's desk but didn't feel comfortable going through it. Which was fine considering she couldn't afford to get distracted. She continued her search and found her way into the back of the room that was being used for storage. Ignoring some old furniture and decorations she continued to search until her eyes fell on the corner and noticed something cloaked in a drop cloth.

Charlie knew it was what she was looking for immediately and just the action of seeing it caused her heartrate to quicken. She swallowed her nervousness and slowly but determinedly made her way past the remaining boxes. It seemed like Clay had purposefully tried to block it off, but not lock it up. Its presence here inside of an evidence locker seemed rather suspicious. Like he knew more than he supposedly did.

"Is this it?" she cautiously called back. Both Carlton and Marla looked over before hurrying over to her side, the former a little more quicker than the hesitant latter. It was clear Marla wasn't as interested in seeing it.

"That's him. Brace yourself," Carlton warned as he climbed over into the corner. He then grabbed the drop cloth. "Feast your eyes on the scariest thing to tumble out of a pizzeria since Baby's closed-." Then yanked it off in one semi-smooth motion, having to yank it harder at the end before revealing what was hiding underneath. " _Fried_ dy Fazburn."

All jokes aside, the animatronic was in much better condition than Baby had been in. Its dark skin didn't show its burns or ash marks easily, but the only part of it that looked truly ravaged from the fire was its arms. Its hands' endoskeleton parts were broken and exposed with deep burn marks leading up its arms. Its face was slightly distorted as well, with its lighter paints darkened with soot and some of its features half-melted.

It was slumped in the corner, sitting on its backside with its legs bent, its arms at its side, and its mouth slacked open. It still clutched its microphone but the end was smashed apart, maybe from something falling on it during the fire or the bear itself falling over. Its single, yellow eye stared ahead without any focus or recognition. Just a broken, burned, and forgotten animatronic.

Just seeing it again made Charlie feel peculiar. She didn't know how to explain it, but she resisted the urge to touch the bear. Almost like it was calling for her.

"Wow…" Marla said almost wordlessly. She didn't dare get any closer but gazed over its fallen form with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. "It looks… Well, not as bad as I thought it would."

"Not as bad as Baby," Charlie agreed. She crouched down in front of the bear to get a closer look. Its gaze was still empty and its mouth still slack-jawed, and she frowned as she looked up at Carlton. "I'm guessing he didn't, but did Clay say where they found it? If the fire was that bad it shouldn't have held up this well."

"I don't know if I'd say 'this well'. I think I'd go with 'not completely decimated'," Carlton chimed in before agreeing. "But I don't know. I noticed that too, but Dad didn't say anything except that they needed somewhere to store it. He _did_ say that there were other ones in there, but they were totally burned up. Like the entire Freddy gang."

"And we just saw them a few days ago…" Marla murmured. "That's so weird…"

"As far as I know, Freddy and friends spontaneously combusting could've been what started the fire, so that explains it," Carlton said with a shrug.

"But why was Baby in there at all?" Charlie asked. This was the question that nobody had a proper answer for. It made sense for Baby to be down in that basement where she was once homed, but why would she have been in that pizzeria if she clearly couldn't be used on a stage. She supposed the same question rose for the bear too and she scooted a little closer. "Schmidt called it Lefty… Lefty?"

Marla turned to Carlton in confusion and he gave a shrug. They continued to silently watch as Charlie attempted to speak to the bear. At that first call there had been no response.

"We already know about Baby and the others being… Aware and awake. We're not going to hurt you. If you can hear me, just… Say something. Or move. Look at me again, something." Charlie was nearly pleading for a response, but none came. The bear didn't move and she sighed wearily. "Maybe we were wrong…"

"Or maybe it knows that if it _does_ start talking, we're all going to run out of here screaming," Carlton said. Charlie got a twitch of an amused smile. That smile dropped at a soft creaking noise that she knew was footsteps, and judging by the sound it seemed like they were right outside the basement door.

"You said nobody was home!" Marla whispered to Carlton, who was now staring at the walk with a look that rivaled the one he had when he first saw the doll amalgam in all its glory. Marla pointed at him accusatorily. "I told you we should've checked first!"

"He's never home this early, and since when's he put his car up-?" The redhead's mini rant was cut off by the basement door opening and continued footsteps down the stairs. He lowered his voice to a frantic whisper and said, "Get under the sheet and try to squeeze behind the bear!" Marla actually snatched up the sheet to do so, but only a few seconds later-.

"I know you're down here," voice firmly stated. He didn't sound amused but he didn't exactly sound angry either, just mostly tired. "Next time you should turn the lights off before you hide." Carlton swore to himself and uncovered himself, stepping out from the storage space just as his father reached the bottom of the stairs. Without changing inflection, he added simply, "Language."

"I know this looks bad, Dad, but all I was doing… Was looking for something," Carlton tried to excuse. Before he could continue, there was a crashing noise from behind and both looked over to see that Marla had accidently knocked over some propped-up candy cane decorations while trying to slide past them. She stared back wide-eyed. Carlton slowly turned back to his father, "I was looking for Marla."

"What have I told you about coming down here?" Clay asked. Carlton paused, and Clay turned to check his desk. "Don't bring anything down here that you don't intend to lose."

"Heh, right," Carlton agreed. It at least sounded like a joke, even if his father didn't say it like one. He then noticed what he was doing; checking his desk to make sure nobody went through anything. Marla stepped out alongside him and Carlton tried to defend, "Technically I didn't go in your office."

"You didn't go near that bear, did you?" Clay asked wearily. Both Carlton and Marla looked identically guilty, like they were children about to be scolded. He treated them as such. "I told you to stay away from it when I brought it home. We don't know what it could've picked up in that fire. For all we know, it could be covered in asbestos." Before he could grill them any further, Charlie stepped out from behind the stairs.

"It's my fault. I asked to come see it," she volunteered. He turned towards her and upon recognizing her looked a little surprised. She smiled, "It's nice to see you again, Mr. Burke. Sorry we had to meet up like this."

"Charlotte Emily, I haven't seen you in years," Clay greeted with a smile. "When did you get back into town? I'm hoping not just because of all this going on."

"I've been in town a few days, this is just bad timing. We were all meeting up when this sort of took us off guard," Charlie was quick to defend. She rubbed her arm awkwardly and confessed, "I asked Carlton if he could show me Freddy and it was all my idea to see it, so if you're going to blame anyone then blame me."

"It's fine. I was expecting it anyway to be entirely honest," he said. He sent a knowing look at Carlton who stayed quiet to keep from incriminating himself further. Clay turned back to Charlie, "Is Jenny in town too?"

"No, it's just me. I've been staying at the house. She's not really happy about it but she didn't stop me from coming… How is everything going with this… With the fire?"

"Well, there isn't a fire anymore, but there isn't a restaurant either," Clay said almost regretfully. He almost seemed upset by something, as though he knew something, and she knew it might be her only chance to learn about the current investigation. She considered how to go about that when the conversation was suddenly interrupted.

"Well, I guess we should get going!" Marla abruptly volunteered. She grabbed Carlton by the arm and made a reach for Charlie. "We've still got to figure out what we're going to do tonight. We've only got a few more days of catching up, so we've got to make the most of it!" Clay didn't seem to suspect anything. He just nodded and sat down in his office chair, and Marla tried to drag them out.

Except Charlie had other plans. "You guys go ahead. I'll be up in a second," she said. Marla raised her brows questioningly and Charlie gestured to the stairs with her eyes. Marla seemed reluctant but went ahead and left with Carlton, both of them not entirely sure it was a good idea but neither putting up an argument. Now alone, Charlie tried to figure out a way to begin this conversation naturally.

"…You know, we actually visited the pizzeria a few days ago." Clay took interest in this and she added, "Just a few of us. I don't know if you remember Jessica or John, but they're both in town too."

"It would be hard to forget you kids. You were inseparable when you were that age," he reminisced, smiling for a moment before returning to intrigue. "Did you notice anything while you were in there?"

"Not at the time. I did see that black Freddy, but it was out of order. That's why when Carlton mentioned it I came to see it… I heard that the fire was caused by wiring and thought maybe the bear started it."

"That's a good guess, but we've already checked it and it's clear that the fire began from inside the building. It was burned because of its close proximity."

" _Wait, so Lefty wasn't in the building?"_ Charlie was about to ask further on this when she was interrupted by Clay continuing.

"I wouldn't lose sleep over it. Things like this happen all the time with restaurants that manage to open without a proper building inspection. You'd be surprised how many fly under the radar and then end up having issues less than a month in. You should enjoy your vacation and leave the investigation to us. We'll figure out what happened," he said. Then he got a peculiar tone, "But try to keep a low profile."

"…What do you mean?"

"Considering that this is a Freddy's, there are people out there right now trying to make connections with the old restaurant. The last thing I want is the media circus to find out you're in town."

"I doubt they remember me after all these years. I don't even think my name was ever published anywhere. Was it?"

"Maybe not, but they do remember your father." Clay's face fell to a more somber look as he remembered the man in question. "It's a shame what happened to him. He was a good man and he deserved better… But this town will cling to whatever it can. If it eases your mind any, we haven't found any connections to the old pizzeria."

It didn't because she knew that couldn't be true. Maybe he just didn't known about the things she did. With how paranoid Schmidt was, she doubted he would've spoken to the police, and if Michael was involved then he was doing everything on his own. She decided to keep pressing a little further before she would say anything she couldn't take back.

"I know there were a lot of rumors about the diner and the pizzeria… Did you hear when they used to say that the animatronics would come to life at night and attack people?" Charlie asked bluntly. She then covered with, "Kids used to say that all the time. I'm guessing it was because of all of the accidents and disappearances. You know kids, they hear something and come to the quickest solution." She then watched carefully to see if Clay would show any indication that he knew what she was talking about.

Unfortunately for her, while he didn't seem surprised about the rumor, he gave no indication that he knew anything. No twitches, not even a pause, just a sigh and an explanation.

"That could very well be. Management at the old pizzerias didn't follow most safety protocols- not your father, of course. Unfortunately, there's few regulations concerning machines of this nature. There's no laws in place saying that these bots have to be kept up to a certain standard, but things as basic as keeping them on stages, not letting children wander unsupervised, and not retiring broken machines led to a slew of unnecessary accidents. I could see how rumors can spread from that."

"That makes sense, just… I'm not a child anymore, you know," Charlie said. "I know you're probably trying to shield me from some of the details, and that there's some things you can't tell me because of the investigation, but… I know a little more than I let on."

"Did you start the fire?" Clay asked. He said it so straightly that it took her a minute to realize it was yet another joke, though one given completely deadpanned.

She almost rushed to deny, but caught herself and she noticed the wording just like she had earlier with the comment about Lefty. "…Does that mean it wasn't faulty wiring?"

Apparently this took Clay completely off-guard. He actually seemed startled by his own slip-up, or at least surprised that she had caught it so quickly. He then gave a positively exhausted sigh.

"You get that from your father," he said. It almost sounded like a compliment so that's how she took it. "Alright, Charlie, I'll level with you. And I'm trusting you to keep this between us." She nodded in understanding. "I'm sure you've already figured this out or Carlton's already told you, but we're treating this as an arson. Due to the circumstances it isn't in our best interest to reveal that to the public yet."

"Because you're afraid it would scare the community?" Charlie guessed.

"That, and because we believe the person who did this may still be in the city. If we tip him off then he could very well flee, and we don't have enough evidence for a warrant." He was cut off by his phone ringing. "Excuse me for a second," he said, getting his phone out of his pocket and answering. "Burke."

Charlie couldn't hear what was going on over the call and so took the time to take a step back and look down towards Lefty. The bear still hadn't moved at all. Though it must've moved some if it had gotten outside.

" _If it was just standing outside then it wouldn't have gotten those burns on its arms, but if it climbed out of the pizzeria then maybe it could've caused them,"_ Charlie thought. She was still somewhat doubtful, but there was definitely some explanation beyond it just being outside for no reason.

"I see. How badly burned? Can we get a clear ID on it?" Clay asked over the phone. A few seconds passed. "Can you tell what gender? Ethnicity?" Another pause before he gave an exhale through his nose. "I'll be right there. Get ahold of the coroner but don't move anything until I get down there."

" _Wait…"_ Charlie turned back to Burke in surprise as he ended the call. _"Did they just find a body?"_

"Sorry to cut this short, but I need to head back out," Clay said briskly. He grabbed a folder off of his desk and replaced his phone in his pocket before addressing her again. "Don't be a stranger, Charlie. Come by one of these days when things have settled down. Betty would love to see you."

"Sure, I'd love to… Is everything alright?"

"No, but in this line of work things seldom are," he admitted before heading back up the stairs.

Charlie felt compelled to follow, sending one last glance at Lefty before climbing the stairs. Once she was out, Clay shut and locked the basement door again. A weird feeling settled in her stomach at letting that door get shut and locked, like she should've stayed and tried harder to goad Lefty into a reaction. She could only hope that she would have another chance to check.

Carlton and Marla were waiting in the living room and watched Clay head out the front door before Charlie came in. "How'd it go?" Marla asked cautiously.

"It… Didn't really go anywhere. Right as I was getting him to open up a little, he got a call and had to rush out."

"Yeah, that'll happen," Carlton said without much surprised. He exhaled tiredly and looked a little disappointed. "Should we go get the car or do you want to sneak back downstairs?"

"No, let's just head back to the house," Charlie said. They got up to leave and she started to head to the front door just in time to spot Clay quickly driving away. Probably wanting to beat said coroner down to the pizzeria and see the body before it was moved. To think that someone got caught in the fire- probably someone working the night shift- made Charlie uneasy. It reminded her of Schmidt.

"…Hold on a second, guys. I need to make a quick call before we go," she called back into the living room before heading out to the car. She sat in the driver's seat before leaning over and going through the glovebox. It didn't take her long to find Schmidt's number and quickly dial it into her phone. It began to ring, then rang a second time, and by the third she was starting to become concerned.

That growing fear was dashed when someone finally answered the phone. "Hello, hello?" She recognized that dry voice right away and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice!" Charlie said. There was a long pause on the line before she clarified, "It's Charlie. We talked in the parking lot at the pizzeria?"

"Gotcha. Up to speed now, sorry. You wouldn't believe the day I'm had," he muttered into the phone. She could only imagine but assumed it was nothing like hers. "I'm guessing you heard about Freddy's?"

"That's actually why I'm calling. I just wanted to check on you. You mentioned you used to work the night shift and I just thought… I just hoped you weren't doing it anymore," Charlie excused.

"Nah. I don't get paid enough to babysit bots again," Schmidt groaned. "But you better believe the cops were grilling me like I did. I don't know what they're thinking happened, but there were cameras all over the place. There's got to be one of them that's got footage of me walking out." He then scoffed and added in a mutter, "If any of that equipment's left."

"I know they're saying it's faulty wiring, or going to say that, but I'm thinking this was something more than that. Do you know of anyone who could've done this?"

"Oh no, I know someone did this. A place like Freddy's doesn't go up like a dried-up Christmas Tree without _someone_ being involved. Could've been anyone: a disgruntled ex-worker, an angry parent, the animatronics themselves as far as we know, and that's just off the top of my head," Schmidt listed off. Though then he paused a long time before adding. "…My boss was acting weird last night. I didn't say that to the cops, but this could've been an elaborate insurance thing. He would've been the last one there."

"He was the one you were afraid of overhearing us talking, right?" Charlie asked and he agreed. That certainly was a new lead. "What's his deal? Would he have really gone through all of this just to burn it down?"

"To be completely honest here, there's something a little off with him," Schmidt admitted. He then added in matter-of-factly, "Could've been because he wore a Freddy Fazbear head twenty-four-seven."

"So, that was the manager… I guess that explains the suit," she said under her breath, mostly to herself, but Schmidt heard her.

"Yeah, that's him alright. I'll admit, I thought he was really strange, but it's hard to judge when Freddy's draws in freaks like it's the nexus of the universe. He is a strange one though. Hired me without even meeting me, I don't even know where he got my number. Just told me to call him boss or whatever. And I mean that literally, "Boss or Whatever." Always stayed late, always got there early…" Oddly enough, Schmidt's venting gave way to a gentler tone. "I haven't seen him since the fire. No calls or nothing."

"You don't think something might've happened to him?" Charlie tentatively asked.

"…I don't know, but he wasn't right last night. He never used to say goodbye to me when I was leaving my shift. I guess that's just a red flag I chose to miss," Schmidt said.

Had he known something was going to happen like Michael did? Was he aware that the pizzeria was suddenly going to disappear, and was it really for insurance? Michael hadn't given that impression, unless he convinced the man to go through with it. Unless… "This is going to sound like a weird question, but did your boss have an accent? Like a soft English accent?"

"That's oddly specific, but yeah, he did." Unless the boss _was_ Michael. He must've overheard her and Schmidt talking in the restaurant and then got ahold of her note once returning to his apartment. That whole time the man in the suit had been watching her it had been him. He knew Freddy's wasn't going to last because it was his business that he was about to sabotage. Then that body they found- "Why? You know him?"

"I… I thought I did," Charlie excused. She tried to cover up the surprise in her voice before noticing movement out the window. Only then did she realize Carlton and Marla were standing outside the front door waiting. "Sorry, but I have to go. I've got to drive a friend to get their car."

"You have my sympathies."

"Can I call you back later? There's something I would like your advice on," Charlie asked. Specifically, to ask what he thought about them trying to tell someone about Afton Robotics, being that he had lived through a similar experience.

"Sure, I'm not going anywhere. You watch yourself out there. There's some weird stuff going down in this town," Schmidt warned her. It echoed Clay's own warning and she took this one to heart just the same. The call was ended and she rolled down the car window to tell the others they could get in.

Marla must've noticed Charlie quietness as she seemed reluctant to leave right away when they got to the house. It took a little assurance that they would meet up later to get her into Carlton's car and send them on their way. Now on her own, Charlie headed inside her home. The lights had been left on and the silence was deafening inside of the house.

She leaned against the door and just stared inside, half-expecting something to peel out from around a corner and make a dash at her. This didn't happen, of course, but it felt strange to suddenly stop after all of that. The closest feeling would be like waking from a nightmare, those first moments where it wasn't clear if it had been a dream or not. Charlie sunk down onto the couch and let her thoughts pour over her.

" _So, it was always him. Michael reopened Freddy's, he's the 'he' who burnt it down, he knew about Afton Robotics and what was down there, which coincidentally ended up in the fire, and now there's a lone body found at Freddy's and he's nowhere to be seen…"_ Charlie laid out before herself. It was a lot to take in after she had been so quick to defend him. "…What now?"

She answered herself when her mind went back to the family album in the office. She remembered that there were pictures of him in there and was gripped by curiosity, enough to head into the office to look. The room was just how she left it with her copied newspapers and the family album sitting together on the desk. She sat down in the office chair and pulled the latter towards her, paused a long moment, and then opened it to the later pictures. The ones where the Afton and Emily families were combined.

It didn't take her long to find the same picture she had seen before and to see Michael standing with his siblings. He was smiling, but even then there's seemed to be something forced in that smile. At least his siblings seemed happy enough. There was one question she couldn't get out of her head, " _But why reopen Freddy's just to burn it down?"_

Charlie's eyes drifted down to his younger brother and remembered what he had said about him. _"…Maybe he just couldn't get over what happened. The only way he could find closure from Freddy's was if he destroyed it himself… And it might've cost him his life."_ That wasn't the only thing she realized. Everything he had said, his warnings to move on, it was all too familiar.

" _He was the one who sent the letter,"_ Charlie thought. She could feel the immediate disappointment come with that realization. _"Maybe he thought reopening Freddy's would bring me back into town and didn't want anyone getting in the way of his plans… Maybe he really was trying to help me. Trying to spare me from everything he found out. So, when he figured out it was me coming by Freddy's, he was finally direct with me."_

The truth was that she was less upset by the realization that Michael had done it and more that her father hadn't. That he hadn't had some elaborate plan to send a message from beyond the grave. One last attempt to have his voice heard and to say the things she needed to hear from him.

She found her gaze moving from Michael to her own father on the other side of the picture, smiling without a care in the world, totally oblivious to what was going to happen in the very near future. She remembered him always being full of love even on his saddest days and wondered how different life could've been if he had been spared that misery. If their family could've stayed together.

She got her answer by flipping to the following page and seeing the photos of her and her brother playing. Happier days of them being carefree and safe. Though these were more combined with the Afton family. At one point her gaze fell squarely on William Afton himself and a wave of disgust and anger rose inside of her.

How someone could do something as heinous as kidnap children and then drag them into that basement was beyond her comprehension. What happened to them there- whether they were used to test animatronics on or just used as William's playthings- was unclear, but they had never made it home. She had no doubt now that William silenced Henry after he figured out what was going on and made him disappear before he could tell anyone else. That wasn't going to happen this time. This time, William couldn't hide any longer.

Charlie tried to force back her feelings and focus on the other pictures. Her insides were twisted up painfully, but she didn't want to walk away just yet. Instead, she let herself stare into a happy but somber scene.

Four children were sitting on the dining room floor together in the picture. They were finger painting with messy hands and equally messy pieces of paper laid out in front of them. Charlie herself was caught with a wide mouthed smile and her eyes squinted. Alongside her was William's daughter, the girl with the strawberry blond hair. It was pulled up in a loose bun and she was waving with a paint stained hand and beaming.

Then there were the two boys on the other side of the blond girl, Sammy and William's son. Sammy was smiling but seemed fully focused on his picture instead of the camera, currently pointing a green finger down onto it. The boy beside him also acknowledged the camera, but this particular picture showed something completely different than what she had seen before, something heartbreaking.

The boy was paler than the other photo, a bit more gaunt, and there was a telltale bandage wrapped around his elbow. One that would've been placed there if blood had recently been drawn. This picture showed the boy that Michael had told her of, smiling and happy, but sickly. To think of what followed made it all so much worse. She couldn't help but imagine what it was like to be stuck down in that basement with that sterile hospital equipment and a few toys. No wonder he had come back so fearful.

He reminded her so much of Sammy. Even as they sat together they were contrasts of one another. Both brunette, though a slightly different shade, both about the same age, but one with so much life and one with a failing body, and both with their time running out. In this moment, Charlie felt nothing but sympathy for this boy, looking into his sunken blue eyes and feeling guilt like she would for her brother.

" _I wonder what he was sick with… Poor kid had to go through all of that and then still ended up like all the others. He didn't deserve that,"_ she thought. Her eyes rose to the newspapers. _"…But at least he got healthier before his accident. That's something…"_ Charlie knew she was grasping at straws and with a sigh she shuffled through the newspapers.

Eventually she found the one talking about the bite and looked at the boy's picture on it once again. He looked so miserable in it. _"I can't imagine what he saw down there. How could someone take their own… Wait."_

Charlie made a sudden realization that she hadn't before. At first she thought it was a trick of the newspaper's picture's contrast, since it was in black and white, but looking closer showed enough shading to back up her confusing finding. The boy in the photo had to be Michael's brother. His story was the same, his features looked very close, and it all added up together.

Except that William's son had blue eyes and the bite victim had brown ones.

"Wait, no. Maybe I'm wrong." Charlie folded the newspaper and then lined up the photo on top of the album's picture so that the two boys were right beside each other. There was no doubt about it, the bite victim's eyes were simply too dark to possibly be the soft blue of William's son. Unless the photo was doctored, the bite victim couldn't have been him.

"…Maybe Michael meant another bite?" From what Charlie saw during her research, there could've been dozens of bites, but then again this was the story that matched up with Michael's and the boy who looked close enough to his brother. It just seemed too coincidental. "This doesn't make any sense-!" But he didn't have blue eyes, he had brown ones. Just like-.

Charlie slowed moved the newspaper aside and uncovered the partially hidden picture underneath. In one revolting moment all of the pieces came together and she came to a ghastly realization.

That wasn't Michael's brother in the picture, it was hers. The bite victim was _Sammy._

Denial tried to creep in and spare her from the truth but she couldn't ignore what she was seeing. His face, his features, his skin, his eyes; literally everything lined up except the slightly different shade of hair. Except hair could be dyed and eye color couldn't; hair could darken with age and eyes wouldn't.

Charlie recoiled with a shake of her head as the rest of it started to slowly come together. This was why Michael's story seemed so strange and why William allegedly hid his own son away for years. He didn't take him away, wait until he got healthy, and then bring him back. He replaced him with a completely different child, the son of his business partner. The one boy who resembled his own enough to pass it off.

"That's him! That has to be him- William had him the whole time!" Charlie sputtered out. Her hands began to shake worse than they ever had in Afton Robotics. "He took Sammy and he kept him all this time. Those years he was gone he must've- he had to have taken him down there to that fake house and fake pizzeria and just waited, keeping him down there, until- Until what? Until Sammy thought he was his son?!"

As disgusting of a thought as it was, Charlie knew it could've worked. Sammy had been too young when he was kidnapped to retain most of those early memories. If he was kept down in those rooms then he would've eventually been coerced into believing anything. Yet he had still came out of there fearful of whatever he had seen. He had still been traumatized by what he witnessed.

"And then he- he brought him up here and posed him as his own son, and it worked. Michael even believed it, everyone believed it. Nobody would've ever found out… Until the accident." She swallowed thickly as it continued laying out before her. "And they might've found out then, so he removed him from the hospital the first chance he had and took him… Down to that basement… Again."

Charlie's eyes widened as she remembered that room. "And- And then he just left him in that hospital bed until-!" Not until he died. That IV bag had been in the locked room. He had been alive. "Until he put him in that box-!" Charlie's voice grew higher and cracked as she was overwhelmed by it all. Her brother had been in that box. That smell had been from his body. " _And that's where Dad found him_!"

That was when everything suddenly got very tight. The room seemed to expand and the air felt thin and floaty. Charlie noticed that she was heaving gulps of air and yet felt like she couldn't catch her breath. She stood abruptly from the desk, looking down at the photos through foggy vision, and then shoved them away. A cup of pens fell off the desk, but she was too busy rushing from the room to notice or care.

She didn't know where she was going, she just knew she had to get away from the house. She grabbed her car keys and barely shut the door behind her before she ran to her car, got in, and began to back out. She hadn't even pulled all the way out before she abruptly hit the break and stopped in place. Sitting there in the car, throat tight and heart pounding, it occurred to her only then that she had nowhere to run to.

Where was she supposed to go for help? Her lonely and disorganized dorm room? Aunt Jen's house, where she always felt like she was taking up space? All Charlie wanted to do was go home, but there wasn't one to return to. The closest thing was the house in front of her and it was the last place she wanted to be. She had never felt so utterly helpless, except for perhaps that horrible moment when Sammy was carried away.

Finally she was beginning to come down from her panic, but her mind clearing only allowed the thoughts to return. It was the worst outcome imaginable: not only was Sammy dead, but he lived in fear and then died alone in a cold basement. From the moment he was taken from that diner he was subjected to whatever William put him through, all the while nobody was there to help him. Their parents gone, nobody else looking, and her unable to do anything. Did he think about her? Had he remembered her at all?

She barely realized that she was crying until a choke rose in her throat. She had always been a realist, but part of her always thought- or hoped- that she would find him alive. That dream of the diner, those thoughts of 'what if he's still out her', her when she was a child believing that her brother would someday be found, all of it was for naught. He was gone and there was nothing she could do.

It took a few minutes before Charlie was calm enough to realize that she still had a problem. She couldn't walk back into the house and she needed to go somewhere, but she didn't know where. She felt like she was going to collapse from the pressure if she didn't get moving somewhere and, for the first time in years, she felt like she truly needed to be with someone. She didn't want to deal with this alone again.

Before she could back out, she got out her cellphone and quickly dialed Jessica's number. She answered within a couple of rings with, " _Hello?"_

"Hey, Jess. It's me…" Charlie began. She hadn't anticipated her voice sounding as frayed as it did. The distraught was painfully audible.

" _Charlie? What's wrong? Are you crying?"_ Jessica asked. Her tone changed instantly to concern. Only a few days ago, Charlie would've been mortified and tried to repute this, but now she could care less. She needed the help and Jessica was one of the only people she could turn to now.

"No," she denied at first out of reflex. Then, after a few moments. "…Yes," she caved. "Look, I just… I don't want to be a burden, but I need someone to talk to. Can I come over?"

" _First of all, you're_ _ **never**_ _a burden. Secondly, of course you can! How soon can you get here?"_

"I'm already in my car. I just need a few minutes… Thanks Jess." As they ended the call, Charlie almost felt a little relieved. She put her car in reverse again and backed out of the driveway. She caught sight of the house as she was turning, standing just as intimidating as it had been the first day she got here. She knew she would be back.

Charlie pulled up in front of Jessica's motel room and had gotten out of her car when her friend came out to meet her. By now Charlie had recovered somewhat, no longer trembling or tearing up, but she looked disheveled. Jessica greeted her in a tight hug, one that Charlie held longer than she had before, and then ushered her into the room.

Then everything came out. Charlie explained everything she discovered, including reciting what they had seen together in Afton's in this new context, and Jessica listened the whole time. Sometimes sitting alongside her, sometimes slowly pacing in front of the bed that Charlie was sitting on the foot of. Her expression changed from shock, to disturbance, and to empathy. It definitely hurt to have to painstakingly voice the details of what happened to Sammy, but it was also a little cathartic.

"It was just- I don't know what happened. I flew out of the house and called you right afterwards," Charlie admitted. She fiddled with the end of her sleeve to combat the urge to fidget. "All I wanted was to find out what happened to him. I guess I wasn't as ready as I thought I was…"

"I think you could've been bracing yourself for years and you wouldn't have taken that any better. That's not the kind of news you can take sitting down," Jessica assured her. She pressed a hand to her chest and added, "I'm hearing this now and I feel like I'm going to be sick… Especially now that we've been down there and saw all of those- ugh- 'observation rooms'. God, what a psychopath." She realized she was ranting to the person she was supposed to comfort and caught herself. "Sorry."

"Nothing you're saying isn't anything I haven't been thinking," Charlie said. She took a deep breath before looking to the blond with defeat. "We've got to tell Clay."

"I totally agree. We need to get everyone together, head over to his house, and try to rationally explain all of this insanity," Jessica agreed.

"But it's not going to be easy. I'm not even sure when he's going to get back. If they found something more than just a body, it could be a while before he gets back."

"Well… It's not like anything's going anywhere," Jessica reminded. She then started to get her cellphone back out. "I'm going to call the others and get us all in one room so we can talk this out, okay?" Charlie nodded and the blond began the task of getting the others together. It was a little earlier than any of them had expected, but hopefully they would still be willing to meet.

Meanwhile, Charlie just couldn't stop thinking about Sammy being left in that box. She kept having this stuck mental image of her father finding him there, even though she knew it was years after he had died. If Sammy had been down there he would've been still alive. If anyone found his body, it might've been Michael, years later.

Charlie's mind continued to recreate fake scenarios in which Henry tried to escape with Sammy and failed, or where he had gotten so close only to be blocked by a door, or just got home to call the cops when he was blindsided and killed by William. Yet the one with the box still stood out. It wouldn't leave her mind.

"Alright, so, John's in. He's still with Lamar, so he's going to call up Carlton, I'll call Marla, we'll all figure out somewhere to meet up- somewhere where we don't have to sit on beds… Charlie? Are you okay?" Jessica asked worriedly, noticing how quiet the other had become. Her friend sat up straighter and was quick to defend.

"What? Oh, yeah, sorry. I just got lost in thought for a second," Charlie said. Thankfully, she was turned away enough that Jessica couldn't see her glassy eyes. "Thanks."

Jessica smiled and said, "That's what I'm here for," before starting to dial Marla's number next. They would all get back together and figure this out, make a new plan, and crack Freddy's wide open.

But Charlie couldn't help but wonder if it was even worth it anymore.


	10. Chapter 10

Charlie stepped out of the diner she and her friends had met at and began the long journey home. They had sat down together and talked out the plan for what they were going to do next, she had told them all she had found out, and they decided the best course of action was to tell Clay.

They would go to Carlton's and confront him tomorrow. Which turned out to be the best decision as it had grown dark while they were inside, which she hadn't noticed until now. Unlike the warm days, the night air was cool and smelled just faintly of smoke. There were thousands of blinking stars lighting the sky past the streetlights. It was beautiful, but Charlie but feeling too heavy and weary to appreciate it.

"Clay's going to end up telling Jen. There's no doubt about it," Charlie said to herself. "And then she's going to come and tell me to leave and there's nothing I'll be able to do… I don't know, maybe that's for the best." She knew that she didn't actually mean that, but she felt obligated to say it. "Always knows best. Always just trying to protect me… I guess not even she could protect me this time."

Charlie was caught off-guard by the distant sound of a dog parking. She snapped her head in that direction and for some reason felt very paranoid, but shrugged it off as just being because she was walking at night. She walked under another streetlight and continued down the sidewalk.

"I wonder if William's still out there somewhere, hiding out with his daughter in another state under a fake alias. Would she even know?... No, he probably wouldn't have told her. She was probably just a kid when they split. Still thinks her daddy's the greatest guy in the world. Doesn't ask questions about her brothers… Or maybe she's living with her mother. Living a completely normal life far away from here."

A distant rattling from a car a street away caused Charlie to shiver. Something about the noise irritated her, making her want to twitch, but she resisted it and pressed on. Though she was becoming steadily more aware of how dark it was everywhere except where the streetlights shined down like spotlights. They made her feel more like she was on display than safe.

"Is there someone watching me?" Charlie slowly turned back and looked down the street behind her that stretched into darkness. There was nothing there, but she felt like there was something following her. She thought back to Baby and how quick she had been, and how flimsy the back door to Afton Robotics was, and turned away quickly to pick up her speed. "I need to get home. It shouldn't be far."

She started to lightly jog but found that her legs were weighed down, exhausted from the effort of the day, and ended up falling into a brisk walk. A car turned onto the street far ahead and she stared at it like a deer caught in headlights as it inched closer. It could've been anyone driving around searching for her. It could've even been _him_.

In an instant, Charlie ran into the closest yard and hid beside the corner of the house. Thankfully, the lights were off and everyone inside was asleep, so nobody noticed as she waited there until the car drove by. It seemed to be driving too slowly in her opinion and she wondered if whoever was inside had spotted her. Maybe they would circle around and come around the back way.

…And then she realized how paranoid these thoughts seemed. _"This is crazy. That's just someone driving home, nobody's looking for me,"_ Charlie scolded herself. She carefully stepped back out of the yard and continued on her way down the sidewalk. Her eye carefully scanning the houses to make sure nobody was watching. "I really should've brought the car. I would be home by now…"

But in a moment of mercy by fate, she spotted the road that led to her house and was inspired enough to pick up speed again. In that last burst towards the house, Charlie swore she could hear more sounds around her. A distant crunch of twigs, a heavy thump or two that sounded deceptively like footsteps, but the one that sent her almost running to her door was what sounded deceptively like a squeak.

Charlie hurried to the front door and tried it, only to find it stuck tight. "I didn't think I locked the door…" she realized. She tried it again when she was caught off-guard by a creaking sound. It sounded mechanical in nature and she looked back in the direction of the trees and then towards her car, but couldn't see anything. Now she was starting to become antsy and tried the door again.

" _Come on, I know I didn't lock the door…"_ Charlie forced it harder before lightly ramming it and only then did it finally pop open. "There we go!" It was almost as though the door had gotten stuck. It made an uncomfortably loud noise but didn't look like it did any damage, so she shut and locked it behind her. She stood in the darkness for a long moment before she realized that something still seemed off.

The glow of dull moonlight only partially alit the living room and seemed to reveal a house that looked normal but felt wrong. Charlie slowly made her way towards the stairs first and foremost and noticed a single light on, the upstairs hall light, the one she had been leaving on at night. She now was thankful that she had forgotten to turn it back off.

"Maybe I'll just head to bed and call it a night," Charlie decided. She started to quickly climb the stairs before halting when she heard a loud creaking echo through the house. It almost sounded like it came from somewhere beneath her, further then the stairs, and like it was from something much heavier than a human, like Baby was. She froze and listened closer, but there were no more noises.

" _I need to get upstairs and lock myself in my bedroom. Either there's someone in the house or I'm overreacting again, but I can't be too careful,"_ Charlie decided. She slowly made it up the rest of the steps and into the hallway. She stared down at her bedroom door that was cracked open and only letting in a sliver of light. Now she was regretting not leaving her bedside lamp on.

Right when Charlie was about to open the door, she was struck by that sensation of being watched again. This time tingling in her skin as she cautiously pushed open the door with a slow creak. The light fell over the dark bedroom and partially across the bed. The blankets seemed a little more bundled then they should've been and she cautiously leaned in only to realize she was looking at something covered up. Something that was shaped undeniably like a human body.

" _There's someone in my bed?!"_ Charlie hoped this was some kind of joke, but she was aware that she had left the door unlocked and anyone could've gotten inside. She stepped in further, the wooden floorboards uncharacteristically loud under her feet, and was able to see the face of the person who was laying there.

" _That's… Me? But I just…"_ The memories slowly started to fill in. _"Wait. I was with the others until evening when I came home and went to bed. I got home hours ago and went to bed. Which means… I'm dreaming?"_

That was it, she w _as dreaming this whole time. Though it all felt so real that she hadn't noticed until now. Charlie slowly started to lean in to get a better look at her face when the floorboards creaked again. This is when she noticed that even though she felt like they were creaking under her, she heard them instead in front of her. Something was in her bedroom with her._

" _If that's me… Then whose standing beside my bed?"_

 _With this shock, Charlie's_ eyes flew open and she woke rather abruptly from the strange out-of-body experience.

And found herself face to face with a gaping mouth and a lone, yellow eye.

Charlie yelped and jumped backwards, scrambling across the bed until her back hit the wall, and stared in shock at the animatronic leaning over her. It was Lefty. Somehow he had gotten out of Burke's basement and found his way into her house. Now she knew why the door was 'stuck', now she knew why the floorboards creaked, and now she was under the mercy of this recolored Freddy Fazbear.

Except that it didn't do anything but stare at her. It was still bent over and staring with a vacant look, one that made her extremely uncomfortable. The bear just seemed to be waiting for her to do something. They were at this stalemate for a few more moments as she waited for it to move or speak, but it did not.

Eventually she built up enough of a nerve to speak, knowing there was a chance that it would immediately trigger the bear to attack. "H-Hello?" she dared to ask. It continued to stare without answer.

Seeing that it still wasn't being aggressive, Charlie became slightly more daring. Sliding against the head of the bed, she edged down closer to the beside lamp and reached for it. She never took her eyes off the bear.

Suddenly, Lefty's arm swung out and its dark fingers clamped onto Charlie's wrist. She tried to yank back out of his grasp, but found it too strong, but also found its arm following her as she tried to back away across the bed. It held her firmly but made no further aggressive movements. It took a moment before she started to realize that it wasn't trying to hurt her.

"…You don't like the light?" Charlie dared to ask.

Lefty began to slowly move once again. It drew Charlie's arm closer and for a split second she imagined it snapping her limb like a twig, but then it did something peculiar. It maneuvered her hand before lying it flat on its belly. She blinked as it held her palm against its chest underneath its star. She didn't understand and was about to voice as such when a shiver suddenly raced through her.

She could feel movement through the animatronic's suit. Not physically but like a vibration, as though another hand was tapping on the other side. Her other hand was shaking as she cautiously raised it towards the bear's chest. She kept her eyes on the bear's and looked for any warning signs to stop, but she received none. It wanted her to feel whatever was inside.

Now with both hands on the bear, Charlie had a strange feeling of dread and sorrow race through her. Almost like it was forced upon her and almost as intense as anything she had went through today. She didn't know how to explain it, let alone rationalize it, but she had a hunch.

She looked up to the bear and asked, "Is… Is there something inside of you?"

The bear's hand released her wrist and slowly raised up its body. It moved stiffly and awkwardly unlike Baby's more controlled movement had been. It stopped its hand beside its bowtie, where its belly changed color, and then suddenly made a clawing motion at the material. Burned fingers dug into its own fabric before pulling tight and revealing the belly pattern as a separate plate that started to lift, only to see stuck under the molded bowtie and then snap back into place. She was starting to understand.

"You want me to open you up…?" Charlie asked. She didn't receive an answer, but she had a feeling she was right.

She couldn't tell if it was damaged and begging to be fixed or literally had something shoved inside of it, all she knew was that it broke into her house and now seemed to be asking for help. Considering the circumstances, this could be a big mistake… But there was something that made her want to do it. She couldn't explain what it was, but she felt drawn to the tapping underneath her palms.

It was worth the risk. "…Okay, I'll do it."

Charlie drew back her hands and slowly slid down the bed enough to get off of it. Lefty straightened stiffly and turned to face her slowly. His whole body seemed so bulky and cumbersome.

" _How did nobody notice this walking across town?"_ Charlie asked in disbelief. She looked at the clock and noticed that it was just after two in the morning, but it didn't really excuse it. _"Whoever said nobody notices anything in this town was right. I wonder if Clay even noticed it getting out of his house. He had to, this thing walking up the stairs…"_ It was all she could think about while leading it down her stairs.

Charlie guided Lefty into her father's workshop and turned on the light. The dull flicker barely seemed to illuminate the room and she tried to get her thoughts together on where to begin. First things first, she needed to see what she was dealing with. "Can you sit on the floor here? Just in front of this workbench."

She didn't know why she was surprised when Lefty obeyed. He swayed over before collapsing unceremoniously on the floor. His arms splayed at his sides and his head titled like he had been in Burke's basement. Apparently he just always sat like a lifeless suit. She crouched down beside him.

"Could you lift that panel again?" Charlie asked. Once again he obeyed, wedging his damaged fingers into the crack, and lifting it slightly. She noticed that he was struggling to lift it and could hear light cracking sounds from its fingers. "On second thought… Hold on a second." She would need something better to wedge it open with and started to search through the tools around the room.

Eventually she found a pry bar made to remove nails and returned to the bear. She slipped the metal underneath the panel. "Okay, take your fingers out." The bear obeyed yet again, and she took its hand and guided it to the bar. "Hold onto it tightly and just pull it down like this… There you go. Just like that." The bear did as told and opened the crack to its limit once again.

This time Charlie noticed the bowtie shift when the panel reached its furthest point of opening. She felt over the bowtie and it wobbled like a large button would. Pressing it did nothing and trying to lift it herself was unaffected. She got up again to get a thin screwdriver and then pressed back on the panel just enough to see a niche under the bowtie. She wedged the screwdriver in and began to apply firm pressure.

The bowtie finally snapped out of place and popped upright, revealing a latch that had been connected to the panel. That seemed to be what was holding it shut.

Swallowing thickly, Charlie moved back and rested on the balls of her feet. "See if you can pull it open the rest of the way."

Lefty loyally followed her command and began to quickly pry open the panel. Its free hand reached up and hooked the edge of the panel on its own accord before yanking it down. The hatch began to slowly open, though Charlie noticed that it still seemed like a struggle to open it. Right then there was a dull _thunk_ and the panel stopped in place, only about four inches open.

Lefty kept trying to pull at it and its fingers began to claw almost frantically. Charlie stopped him by taking his wrist and leaning back in.

"Here, let me take another look. There might be another latch," she said. Though she was rather confused by it. It had almost sounded like another latch had activated while they were opening the bear, almost like a safety precaution. She tried to look in through the crack but due to the angle it was hard to see.

A metal plate blocked off most of what was beneath the hatch and all she could see in front was parts of an endoskeleton. Strangely, there seemed to be wire caught all in the metal, but not electrical wire. She poked one of the strands and found that it was wound tightly, but part of her doubted this was what Lefty wanted her to see. Even if it was and that this tangle was causing him trouble, she couldn't do much with it until she could get him open. She slipped her hand and wrist in further and felt around the panel.

It didn't take her long to find the hatches inside. She felt over carefully and noticed small bolts on them. She could unscrew them, but she would be doing so blind, and doing so with her arm jammed in the panel.

"I think I can get these unscrewed, but I'm going to need you to hold this open," Charlie instructed. She went to find a small enough wrench and by time she returned she found the bear still holding it open. She slid her hand and wrist back into the opening and felt around until she got the wrench set on the bolt. Then she began to slowly work on unscrewing it. It was while she did that she drifted into her thoughts again.

" _Am I doing the right thing here? He didn't attack me like Baby did, but he could be just as dangerous… I don't even know if he attacked Clay to get out of his house and here I am helping him_ ," Charlie thought. She had a concerned frown on her face, but it softened up a little as Lefty shifted to readjust its grip and open itself further. _"…But then again, it is doing what I ask it to. Maybe just to help itself, but it's still cooperating."_

Charlie got both hatched unbolted and they popped loose with just a little more pressure on the panel. She was quick to pull her arm back and immediately Lefty began to pry himself further open. The pry bar would no longer work well, so it dropped it carelessly and just began to pull with both hands. Charlie watched expectantly on the edge of her seat- or feet- waiting to see what it was inside.

It was the same feeling she had gotten while standing outside the locked security door only hours before. Like something was waiting for her inside that she had to see, creeping open inch by inch until-.

 _Thunk!_ The sound of more latches locking in caught them both off guard. Though this time that wasn't the only noise. A crackling sound came from the broken microphone piece hanging from its palm by a flimsy cord, all but forgotten as it had used its hands. The half-melted object made distorted noises and Lefty's body flinched. Then suddenly seized as it erupted in a louder static noise from the inside. Charlie recognized it as the same thing that happened to Circus Baby when she used the taser; it was being electrocuted.

After a few seconds it stopped. Lefty collapsed into the limp pose again, arms falling from its chest, and its panel snapped shut once more. It twitched a little in place as Charlie stared in shock.

"Are you okay?!" she blurted out. The bear didn't answer, naturally, but she did think she head a dial-up noise from its chest or belly. "What was that?! Was that a malfunction, or-?" No, it had happened alongside the next latches activating. It had been on purpose to subdue the animatronic. Someone had built failsafe after failsafe to keep this bear closed tight.

Only one man was psychotic enough to hide his secrets behind layers of animatronic manufacturing. Charlie's gaze grew cold as she looked at the microphone and deduced that this was something William made.

And if that was the case, then she would literally break it wide open.

"Don't move," Charlie instructed. She rushed back to her father's workbench and retrieved a pair of electrician's gloves she had found earlier. Then she didn't think she would need them but now it was clear that she would be dealing with a living booby trap. She grabbed other things too; electrical tape, wire cutters, and another wrench that she thought might fit inside the bear better.

She crouched beside the bear again, pulled on the gloves, and used the pry bar to get its belly open again. Only now did she realize how hard it was to open the bear with it inching open. At first she thought she could prop the bear open with the bar, but then realized that would open it too much. If she was going to disarm the trap then she couldn't risk activating it.

"I know you're probably hurting, but I need you to hold this," Charlie said with a puff as she held the hatch open. Lefty's arm raised in almost a flailing manner and grabbed ahold of the edge. It almost didn't look like it would hold the hatch with such a loose grip, but it did.

She tried to look into hatch and could see a slender opening created between it and that metal plate from earlier, but even the bright work light above couldn't reach the depths of the next latches. All she could see was a shadowy lump that she hoped wasn't hidden remains.

" _I'll cross that bridge when I get there,"_ she decided, then looked to Lefty's face. "It's extremely important that you hold that where it is. Don't close or open it anymore and I'll do what I can." Then she took a deep breath and reached her arm inside. She followed down the edge where the hatch would be. Something that sounded like fabric brushed against the back of her glove. _"Don't think about it. Just don't think about it."_

She found the latch deep inside and felt over and around it. Sure enough, there was a thin wire leading away from it- a traditional wire, not like the stuff wrapped through the bear's endoskeleton.

" _So, this is either connected to the sensor or to whatever electrocuted Lefty… Which means either way, it has to be taken care of."_ Charlie pulled out to grab the wire clippers before hesitating. _"…And what if there's a failsafe on the failsafe where if the wire's cut it just shocks him nonstop?... No. Sounds like something William would do, but I don't think he could manage that."_ Or at least, she hoped he couldn't, and reached in.

There was only one way to find out. Charlie felt around along the edge until she found her way back to the latch. She lined up the clippers against the wire, took a deep breath, and then snipped. To her relief, nothing disastrous followed. She exhaled and began to make her way to the other latch. She tried to reach without repositioning her arm much and found herself stretching as much as she could. The tips of the clippers just barely bumped the wire before she lost her grip and dropped them inside the bear.

"Shoot," Charlie hissed, inwardly cursing herself. She tried to adjust herself to reached deeper inside. "Hold on, I'll get them back. You just stay still-."

The clippers' handles brushed over her fingers. Which would've been great if not for the fact that something obviously lifted them up to meet her. That was… Concerning, but again she tried to not think about it.

"Uh, thanks," she said. Then she replaced her hand and just managed to snip the wire. She drew out the wire clippers and replaced them with the wrench, then unscrewed the latches like she had done to the ones above them. It took longer because of the awkward angle and her legs were starting to cramp up, but she pressed on, and felt a surge of accomplishment each time she finished with a bolt.

Now there didn't seem to be anything left holding the bear closed, for now. Charlie wasn't entirely convinced that another set of latches would activate when they began trying to open him again, but they wouldn't know until they tried. She set the wrench aside and grabbed ahold of the panel with both hands.

"Let's try this again. I think we might be in the clear this time," Charlie said to Lefty. His eye seemed more vacant than before, staring off somewhere into the room, but he still held the hatch firmly. She planted her feet on the floor and readied herself. "On three. One… Two… Three!"

She began to pull back with all her might as panel slowly inched further open. Even with Lefty pulling as well, and he was likely much stronger than her, they still seemed to struggle. As though the hatch had reached the end of its capacity and pulling any further was fighting a losing battle. Yet it still continued to creep further open between them.

Then out of nowhere, Lefty's arm dropped to its sides and it went limp. Charlie half-expected the hatch to snap shut under her grip alone, but to her surprise it was still opening. Almost like it was being pushed open from the inside.

She continued to pull with all of her strength and waited for something to give, and it did all at once as the hatch swung open. It happened so abruptly that Charlie fell back and landed on the floor heavily. She pushed herself back up quickly and her eyes widened as she saw what tumbled out of the bear's chest.

There were two long limbs bent out of the bear's chest and tilted limply. They were black with white, horizontal stripes, and poised in a way that reminded her deceptively of the ballerina legs she saw weaved to the amalgam of dolls. Though if they were legs, then they lacked feet. She could tell they were covered in a felt-like fabric and recognized that it had to be the same material that brushed her glove.

Then one of them shifted and bent further until its tapered tip pressed against the tiles between the bear's legs. The other followed suit and poised alongside it. Then, in one swift motion, the creature lifted its limp body out from the bear. Its bent back torso snapped forward, long arms hanging at its sides, and it wobbled on its unsteady legs before her. She knew right away that it had to be an animatronic, but it was unlike any that she had seen before.

The creature looked like a mime, or maybe a puppet from the strings hanging down its arms- she noted that they were the same strings she saw wrapped inside the bear and seemed to be slowly sliding into its body even as it stood before her. It was very slender, so much that she was almost surprise that it could stand on its own, with long arms with stripes that matched its legs, and long fingers going with it. It had a mask for a face that was white with purple stripes, red cheeks and lips, and a few dark soot stains. They were less noticeable on the fabric.

Before Charlie could even get up, pinpricks of light appeared in its eyes and it dropped its head so they could level on her. She recognized those lights from one of her dreams, but she couldn't remember which one.

The Puppet stood there for a long moment towering over her before it suddenly moved in. It didn't exactly move fast, but the fact that it didn't move its legs at all took her completely off guard. It floated over to Charlie and bent down even closer, watching her carefully, and then tilting its head as though questioningly. It was all very intimidating, but not exactly aggressive. Just curious of her.

She decided to treat it as she had treated Lefty. "So… So, you were the one inside the bear," she said quietly.

The Puppet made a soft chiming sound from its chest in response. It sounded friendly from what she could tell, though it was still too close for comfort. She scooted back enough so she could get to her feet.

As she did, Charlie noticed the still unresponsive bear behind it. So, she asked, "Are you the same person? I mean, are you and Lefty the same? Were you controlling it?"

Much to her surprise, the Puppet did not chime this time but instead gave a gentle nod. It almost seemed uncanny seeing it move, though that thought was quickly dashed when she realized that it was willing and capable of answering questions. This could be the key to finding out the truth about what happened.

" _It could tell me what really happened at the pizzeria. It must've seen the whole thing,"_ Charlie thought. "…Can I ask you something?" The Puppet tilted its head again questioningly. She decided to be just as careful with it as she had been talking with Clay earlier that day. "The way that bear- that _suit_ was rigged up looked like someone put you there on purpose... Did someone trap you in there?" she asked.

The Puppet nodded again, but she noticed this time that it nodded a little slower. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough body language to go on to guess what it was feeling, and the blank smile didn't help. She had so many questions but the easiest one to answer was the one burning on her lips. "Was it the same person who started that fire?" This time the animatronic seemed reluctant to answer. It just stared blankly at her.

"I know what happened at Freddy's. I've seen Baby. She told me someone started that fire and I'm starting to realize that it wasn't just the pizzeria that he wanted to burn," Charlie said. The Puppet turned its head slightly away and she boldly stepped close to it. "Please, you're the only one who can tell me now. I need to know," she pleaded with it.

Finally, the Puppet turned its head back to her. It stared silently for a second before hovering closer, and this time she didn't back away. It was only a couple of feet away and staring her directly in the eyes.

Then there was a small click in its chest followed by a low hum of static, and then a voice. Though Charlie was neither expecting or prepared for the voice that came out of the Puppet.

" _You played right into our hands."_

Charlie's eyes popped open as she heard that voice. She knew that voice, but she had heard it in a much more broken and corrupt state. That was Circus Baby.

" _Did you really think that this job just fell out of the sky for you?"_ Charlie was confused by the question, especially when the voice just continued to speak without pausing for an answer. _"No, this was a gift for us."_

There was a low noise that sounded like something moving against metal. Like something moving inside of one of the vents from Afton Robotics, and it was with that noise that Charlie realized, much to her relief, that the Puppet was not speaking to her, but playing her a recording. This confirmed that Baby was in the pizzeria, but it was what she said further that made the woman much more uneasy.

" _You gathered them all together in one place. Just like he asked you to._ _All of those little souls in one place. Just for us. A gift."_ Charlie felt sick at the implications. This couldn't be right, that couldn't have been what the pizzeria was built for… Was it? _"Now we can do what we were created to do… And be complete. I will make you proud, Daddy! Watch, listen, and be full!"_

Charlie only had a moment where she felt like she was plummeting. Reeling in horror from the information that had been laid out before her and she still couldn't believe it. Right before she was about to question it, ask for more answers from the silently staring Puppet that watched her reactions, she was interrupted by a beeping noise, along with another voice.

" _Connection terminated."_

Her eyes shot open. She knew that voice.

" _I'm sorry to interrupt you, Elizabeth, if you still even remember that name, but I'm afraid you've been misinformed. You are not here to receive a gift, nor have you been called here by the individual you assume. Although you have indeed been called."_

She _knew_ that voice. She knew it even when it had been years since she last heard it. She recognized it even when Theodore's prerecorded messages became filled with static. She knew that voice.

"Is that…" Charlie gasped. "Dad?"

" _You have all been called here into a labyrinth of sounds and smells, misdirection and misfortune. A labyrinth with no exit, a maze with no prize."_

That's why Baby and Lefty were in the pizzeria.

" _You don't even realize that you're trapped. Your lust for blood has driven you in endless circles, chasing the cries of children in some unseen chamber always seeming so near, yet somehow out of reach."_

Was that why the dreams were always in vents?

" _But you will never find them. None of you will. This is where your story ends."_

"I don't understand!" Charlie blurted out. "He's been dead-!"

" _And to you, my brave volunteer, who somehow found this job listing not intended for you: although there was a way out planned for you, I have a feeling that's not what you want. I have a feeling that you are right where you want to be."_

She felt her heart sink and she realized that it had to be Michael. He had been going along with this too, he must've known what was coming.

" _I am remaining as well. I am nearby. This place will not be remembered, and the memory of everything that started this can finally begin to fade away, as the agony of every tragedy should."_

Through the whole thing she was just shaking her head and listening. Suddenly everything had changed. This had to be another lucid nightmare, a realistic enough dream that it felt real, because she felt awake and this couldn't actually be happening.

" _And to you monsters trapped in the corridors, be still and give up your spirits. They don't belong to you. For most of you, I believe there is peace and perhaps more, waiting for you after the smoke clears. Although, for one of you, the darkest pit of Hell has opened to swallow you whole, so don't keep the Devil waiting,_ _old friend_."

He had to mean William. In that case, William must've also been in the fire, but Charlie was in total disbelief. She could barely rationalize it as she looked up from the tiles and towards the Puppet, which she noticed had abruptly fallen silent. That wasn't all that she noticed either. Something had changed on the Puppet's face.

Its wide smile almost seemed crooked and its eyes seemed wider. It no longer kept her gaze either and now looked to be staring down at her feet. Something was upsetting it, and she could only wonder if it was connected to how abruptly the message had been cut off.

She knew she was going to regret asking, but still did, "Is- Is that it? Is there anything else?"

The Puppet continued to stare blankly ahead just as Lefty had done earlier. She assumed that meant that there wasn't-.

" _My son, if you can hear me, I'm sorry it had to be this way."_ It wasn't the end. Charlie looked on and listened to her father's confession silently. _"That I couldn't protect you like you protected others. That I couldn't find you before you were too far gone… On that day you were left alone and I let a monster take you away… And do what he did to you… But I should have known you wouldn't be content to disappear, not my son. I couldn't save you then, so let me save you now."_

The Puppet's fingers tightened as though into fists and it lowered its head. Perhaps to hide how much its mask was distorting. Though it continued to play the recording in full.

" _It's time to rest; for you, and for those you have carried into your arms. This ends for all of us. End communication."_

Except that was not where it ended. Towards the end of the transmission, Charlie had started to hear a low crackling noise in the audio. Only once the voice stopped did it become evident that it was the sound of the growing fire. Within moments loud bangs and groans of metal accompanied it. That was when the screaming began.

A shrill voice that didn't sound human screamed and babbled out in panic cries. Then came a scream that sounded very similar to Baby's, angered and panicked, accompanied by frantic banging. Then, finally, a voice.

" _ **HENRRRRY!"**_ A horrible, haunting voice. _**"YOU CAN'T STOP THIS! I WILL FIND YOU! HENRY! I WILL COME BACK FOR YOU!"**_ Which was then overtaken by screams and a loud explosion.

Only after that did the recording finally stop and the house was suddenly returned to complete silence. Charlie realized she was holding her breath and inhaled sharply. "He was alive this whole time."

That was why they had never found a body. He hadn't been murdered, he hadn't committed suicide, he had faked his death. This whole time their family was crumbling apart while mourning him and he had been out there somewhere, and he hadn't even tried contacting her until it was too late. Years later through a letter that was impossible to trace and difficult to date. He had no intentions of ever coming home.

"I-I can't believe this," Charlie said. She turned away from the Puppet, a hand desperately tangling in her hair, trying to come to grips with this sudden turn. _"Did Aunt Jen know? Did Mom? Is that why she left? All this time I've been missing him and just would've given anything to see him and he was alive…"_ The more she thought about it, the more betrayed she felt. "What did he do, hide for years and then just come out to build a new Freddy's and burn it down?! He couldn't even face me?!"

That was what hurt the most, because now he had died all over again. He had been dead for years in her mind and she only found out he was alive about a day after his true death. Regardless of when he died, it was still too late for her to do anything but stand there and mourn all over again. Though this time was different. This time the hurt was accompanied by anger.

The more she wanted to know why, the more Charlie tried to think back into exactly what he said. It sounded like the plan was to lure haunted animatronics into the pizzeria and then burn it down, along with who she assumed to be William, Michael, and himself. He had said something about setting them free- except his bitter words towards William- so maybe it was his effort to stop Freddy's for good.

Michael must've been in on the plan; in hindsight he seemed to be eagerly going along with it. He must've stepped in with her investigation to stop her from finding out about Henry, hoping to stall her until after the fire and not realizing some of the animatronics would escape, Baby, Lefty, and the Puppet trapped inside him. That raised a new angle of questions as she thought back to the bear she had just pried open.

It was obvious that her father wanted to get rid of all the haunted animatronics, so he must've built the bear to trap and contain the Puppet. Only an technician who had spent many years working on animatronics would be able to make one with so many complicated failsafes in place… But why do that? Why go through so much effort to catch something and then still be willing to put him on stage? He hadn't even tried anything like this with Baby- to Charlie's knowledge- and she had escaped. Something wasn't adding up.

" _Why go through the effort of securing the Puppet inside of another animatronic instead of just shutting it down? He doesn't seem dangerous. He could've attacked me this entire time and didn't," C_ harlie thought. She turned back to look at the Puppet. It still stood there with its hands clenched and its head lowered, just as wound up as it had been before. _"It got so upset listening to what he said… Why did it stop before the end?"_

Specifically, she realized, before her father's soliloquy involving her brother. The Puppet had hesitated like it was reluctant to play it back for her and was now unwilling to even look at her. It was at that second that it occurred to her how weird it was that her father had that lengthy message to her brother in the middle of that. It could've just been his regrets coming out, but it sounded a little too direct.

" _He was talking like he was there. He said he found him, but it was too late to save him, but he was going to save him now… He was in the fire too."_ That was when it hit her. Charlie looked at the Puppet with a newfound alarm. This animatronic that had been inside the bear, who had been kept on stage, who her father took special care to keep from escaping, she knew who he was. "…Sammy?"

The Puppet reacted instantly to the name. It lifted its head and stared at her again, and it was then that she saw how much its face had changed. Its smile was gone and instead its mask showed fear and surprise. Its response alone confirmed her suspicions; it knew that name, it knew who it was, and it had known Henry was talking to him. This Puppet was her brother Sammy; her twin was a haunted animatronic.

Charlie didn't know how to feel and didn't give herself time to process it. She took a hesitant step closer and the Puppet watched her closely. With that look on his face he looked like he could run at any moment, but he didn't and let her close the gap between them. She knew that she had to be careful with him, she didn't want to lose him again.

"Sammy…" Charlie reached out for him steadily to not startle him and gently touched his arm. It was surprisingly soft fabric; she would've never expected her brother to feel like a plush toy. As her fingers grasped around his arm he started to move back. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm… I'm Charlie. Do you remember me?" She almost feared the answer and he paused for a long moment.

The lights in his eyes dropped to the side as though thoughtfully. Then eventually returned to her and he gave another slight nod. There was no clarification so she didn't know if he meant from the pizzeria or from their childhood, but at this point it didn't even seem important. Instead, she just threw caution to the wind and pulled him into a sudden embrace.

At first he flinched with a squeaky chime and grew rigid in her grasp. It only took a few seconds for him to become calm again and once he was he tentatively raised a hand to her back. It lingered there only momentarily before his long arms wrapped around her and returned the embrace. He rested his head against hers and rung low in his chest. It sounded contented, comfortable in contrast to the fear from earlier.

It felt strange. She was well aware that he wasn't a human any longer and yet it was still assuring. Charlie just kept telling herself that he was her twin, that this was Sammy, and that made it easier. Standing there in that cold garage she had finally found that missing piece that had been gone for so long, and it was enough to help her ignore the feeling that she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Charlie wasn't sure how long they stood there hugging until they were forced to separate. She did notice that the adrenaline was starting to wear off though and reminded her of her lack of sleep. Still, there were things that needed to be taken care of first. She drew back and instantly noticed a whiter spot on the Puppet's mask from where she inadvertently wiped off the soot, probably with her hair. He no longer looked afraid- his mask seemed to mirror her pensive look- but he was still dirty from the fire.

"Can you- Will you come with me?" Charlie asked. He nodded right off the bat and she took him by the wrist and guided him towards the door. She led him out of the garage workshop and towards the stairs.

All seemed to be going well until they arrived at the rug. Charlie came to an abrupt stop and stared down at it. For so long she had tried to ignore this rug and the secret it held, but this time she found herself fixated on it. She slowly released her grip on the animatronic and knelt beside it, staring down at it, and then finally grabbed the rug and pulled it aside.

There was the dried stain from the pool of blood her father had left behind. Charlie had only seen it once, a glimpse of it the day she lost her father, and it was as bright now as it had been then. Even in the dull light from the stairwell it was a deep red, a sharp contrast to the dull, rusty brown color that aged blood normally would've taken. She wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't real blood. Just something that resembled it.

Charlie took a deep breath and stood again. She reached back and took the Puppet's wrist without another word and led him past the blood and up the stairway. She had to keep focused on the task at hand; her brother needed her, her father was already gone.

Instead of taking him to the bedroom, she led him into the bathroom by the wrist. She used her free hand to dampen a washcloth in the sink before bringing it towards his mask. He started to draw back.

"It's okay, I'm going to be careful. Let me just get some of this stuff off your mask… Just in case, you know, asbestos," Charlie said with a small, uncertain smile.

This seemed to convince the Puppet enough that he moved back in and allowed her to gently wipe the ash off of his mask. It came off surprisingly easily and the paint underneath looked mostly intact. Apparently the bear had taken most of the fire damage. The Puppet certainly smelled like the fire but there wasn't any visible burns.

He chimed softly as she touched him, both hesitant to the touch and sometimes pressing into it. His fingers wrapped around her wrist and held it as securely as he held its own. She couldn't help but wonder how long he had been like this, or how he had become this at all, but knew it had to be connected to William. Something about that box still stuck out in her mind, but it didn't seem as important anymore.

Once she was finished- and not having the supplies to clean the fabric portion- Charlie dropped the washcloth into the sink and took him back to her room. She stood there for a second and just looked around, trying to figure out where to go from here, until her eyes fell on her jacket that was laying across the foot of the bed. She picked it up and quickly draped it over the Puppet's shoulders, and he looked down at it like he was confused by the gesture.

Instead of explaining, Charlie sat down on the bed and tried to keep the nagging thoughts from overtaking her. She was still reeling from it all, so much so that she couldn't even sort her thoughts. It wasn't until the Puppet sat down on the bed beside her that her thoughts went back to him. He still moved like a human. He held her jacket around himself like a person would. That sat with her for a long moment.

Then she started to speak. "Sammy, I don't know if you remember or not, but I'm your sister. Your twin, actually. We used to live in this house with our parents before any of this happened. This was our bedroom and some of your things are still in the closet." She looked around at the room with a small sigh. "I can't remember a lot from back then, but I can remember us playing together and being happy here. We had a good childhood in the beginning… But then there was this party at the diner our dad used to own, the Freddy's before Freddy's."

She paused momentarily, wondering if it was worth continuing and forcibly bringing up the past and risk upsetting him. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she could see that he was watching her attentively and knew he was listening. Chances were that he didn't know much. She doubted their father told him the details- the thought of him speaking into the bear's mouth was both comical and disturbing at once.

"We were playing in a back closet when _he_ found us. I'm sure you know who he is." His lighted eyes glanced to the side for a second; he definitely knew. "…That was the day he took you. It was at that party." Charlie rested her hands in her lap as she looked at the carpet again. "…But I never forgot that day and I never forgot you. Dad didn't either. I don't know why he did what he did, but I've seen his journaling and I know he was searching for you for a long time. Losing you was what tore our family apart."

The Puppet made a low chiming. She couldn't tell if it was confused or disturbed, but it was much less pleased. Charlie took a deep breath and admitted further.

"Sometimes I would wonder if things would've gone differently if I had screamed for help or cried sooner. Would they have found you in time? Would he have taken me instead? He could've taken either of us... When I was really young, I used to daydream about running away and finding you myself, and believed that if I did our family would go back to normal. I guess that's just how I dealt with it, because I couldn't understand why everyone was leaving me." She wrung her hands so tightly that they hurt. "...I just wanted a way to get it all back.

Charlie's voice cracked so she took a second to recover. It was in that moment that she caught something purple moving in her peripheral vision. She looked over to see that something bright like paint had dripped onto the Puppet's leg. She furrowed her brows before looking up at the Puppet's mask, only to be alarmed when she saw the source of the thick, purple, paint-like substance.

It was leaking out of the Puppet's eyes and trailing down his mask thickly. Matching the stripes on his face, it ran down before collecting at the bottom and steadily dripping onto his legs. She couldn't even fathom what the mixture was made of, but she knew what was happening. He was crying.

"Sammy…" Charlie murmured quietly. He straightened up a little more as the jacket slid down his shoulders without his notice. She felt guilt creeping in. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. Please don't cry."

The Puppet turned to look at her before reaching for her hands in her lap. He gently pulled them apart and held them in his own. It felt like he was trying to reassure her and she squeezed the warm fabric back.

"The point of all that was that I've been waiting and looking for you all this time, and now that I've found you… I'm not going to let anyone take you away again." Charlie held on a little tighter. "I don't know what we're going to do now, but we're going to figure this out. Together, somehow, we're going to deal with this, no matter what. I promise I'm not going to leave you," she promised. She meant every word.

Sammy gave another quieter chime and leaned in to press his head against her. Charlie wasn't concerned about the tears and just stayed at his side. She didn't know what was coming tomorrow; maybe this was the only time they would have before something else befell them. All she could do was hold on for right now, silently wondering if she was going to wake up tomorrow and have this all be a dream.

Tomorrow would be a new day, whether she was ready for it or not.


	11. Aftershock

Marla and Jessica pulled up to Charlie's house a little after nine o'clock and found John sitting on the front steps. Jessica thought this was a little strange- not that he was there, since they were all supposed to meet at the house- but that he was sitting outside instead of in on the couch. Raising a brow, she let herself out of the passenger's side.

"Hey," she greeted him. He gave a wave and a half smile, looking like he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. She felt the same way; she had barely been able to close her eyes without feeling like she was being watched. She walked up to the front steps and stood beside him. "What's up? What are you doing out here?"

"Charlie's not up yet. I knocked, but she didn't answer," John explained. Jessica's face fell sympathetically.

"She probably had a rough night. Did you try calling her?" she asked, already getting out her cellphone to do so.

He shook his head. "Not yet. No use waking her up if everyone's not here yet. She could use the extra sleep." He didn't stop Jessica from dialing the phone number.

Charlie was roused out of a dead sleep by the sound of her cellphone ringing. Still barely awake, she reached for it on the nightstand and answered quickly. "Hello?" she asked groggily.

"It's us. I'm down here with John and Marla, but no rush. It sounds like you'll need a minute to wake up,"Jessica said with a little amusement. Charlie roused the rest of the way and sat up in bed.

She didn't remember exactly when she fell asleep. Her position was a tribute to that, as she was laying on top of the blankets and the lamp was still on. The events of the night before came back to her instantly, but she didn't have any time to question them before she spotted the figure laying at the foot of the bed.

There was Sammy, still here and still a puppet, with his arms wrapped around himself and her jacket draped over his torso and head. One leg was bent, with his knee tucked under the pulled-up blanket, while the other dangled off the end and nearly brushed the carpet. It was a quick reminder that everything that happened last night had been real.

" _He's really here… After all this time, I actually found him,"_ she thought. Before she could consider the rest of the night before, her thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Everything okay up there? Still waking up?" Jessica asked, concerned when she didn't get a response.

Charlie's budding smile started to fade instantly as she realized something else. _"He's here and everyone's right outside waiting to get in."_ Sammy had been calm and humanlike with her, but she didn't know how he would react to a room of strangers. Vice-versa, after what happened at Afton Robotics, she couldn't imagine how everyone would react to seeing another moving animatronic. She couldn't take the risk. _"I've got to get down there and do damage control."_

Fueled by panic, Charlie leapt off the bed and fumbled a normal-sounding response. "Yeah, sorry. Just a little spaced out. Whose all here?" she asked as she went to get her clothes together. Suddenly the Puppet shot upright on the bed, wide awake, the jacket falling down onto his legs. He twisted his neck to look at Charlie, an uncomfortable half smile on his face underneath wide, startled eyes.

She could question the mask's shifting later. Instead she pointed to the cellphone in explanation and hoped he would understand. Apparently he did as his upright posture eased just the slightest bit. He was listening.

"Just me, Marla, and John. Lamar should be here soon. Marla's already called Carlton and he said just to meet him at his house. Though if you need a little longer, we can head over without you."

"No, that's okay. I'm coming," Charlie insisted. "I'm going to get dressed and I'll be right down. Sorry to leave you hanging."

"Don't worry about it! If it wasn't you, it would be Lamar anyway. See you in a bit," Jessica chirped before ending the call. It was clear that she was trying to keep a bright face and Charlie did appreciate it. Though it didn't fix her immediate problem. She ended the call and set the cellphone aside.

"Sammy?" The Puppet perked and rose from the bed. The fear had vacated his eyes, but he was still looking at her questioningly, having overheard the conversation. "That was my friend Jessica. She and some of my other friends are waiting downstairs for me. Don't worry, I'm not going to let them in… But we had plans to go talk to the detective investigating the fire at Freddy's. Are you going to be alright here if I go?"

The Puppet's smile seemed to somehow grow more strained without visibly moving, so she might've imagined it. Either way she jumped in to add, "I'm not going to tell him anything about you. Especially not since it was his basement that you broke out of, which I'm sure might come up in the conversation… Will you be okay here?" His original, default smile returned and he gave a short nod. "And you're not going to leave while I'm gone, right?" He shook his head.

She still didn't feel entirely safe leaving him here alone, but she didn't have much choice. As daunting as the talk with Clay suddenly was, it would be necessary, especially since she wasn't ready to outright blurt out Sammy's existence to the others. That would require a little more finesse and a lot of timing. But she could handle it, she was sure, and she was at least half-confident that her friends would understand.

"Alright then. I'm going to get ready to go," Charlie said. She headed into the bathroom to get dressed and splash some water on her face. Only once she was alone did those other thoughts start to creep on her, the ones about her father, his fake suicide, and his real suicide. She forcibly pushed it back down. _"I'm not getting myself worked up right now. Not before I have to go face everyone. They'll know something's up."_

Charlie was able to pull herself back together and keep focus on the task at hand, rehearsing what she was going to say in her head. She stepped out of the bathroom and almost walked straight into Sammy.

"Uh, hey. I didn't think you were standing out here. Everything okay?" she asked. The Puppet held up her jacket to her. "Oh, my jacket! Thanks, it totally slipped my mind." She almost felt naked without it and reached for it, only for him to lower it again. He raised a hand and made a twirling motion with his finger. Hesitant but compliant, Charlie turned around and the Puppet eagerly slipped it onto her.

It was going to be weird getting used to this. Still, Charlie gave an honest smile. "Thanks, I'll be back as soon as I can," she said. She wasn't sure what she was going to do once she got back, but that sounded like a good plan. Sammy chimed contently and she headed for the stairs. As she started down the steps she noticed that he was following, but by time she made it to the bottom it was clear he was going no further.

She looked back at him one last time and he waved at her with his long, pliable fingers. She waved back with a small smile. Definitely strange, definitely not something she would've expected a week ago, but maybe she could handle this. She just had to be careful how she went about this from now on. She just couldn't think too far ahead yet.

Charlie stepped out of the house with a quick, "Hey," of greeting. Lamar had arrived and was standing there with the others. Normally she might've offered for them to come inside, went over one last plan of action, but today she shut the door and locked it before anyone could even suggest it- or notice the damage done to it. "Let's get going."

"Okay! I already talked with Carlton and Clay's home right now, so we're good to go," Marla said. She managed to keep an upbeat tone even when adding, "Let's just cross our fingers and hope for a miracle."

"Clay's not that stubborn, is he?" Lamar asked. "I mean, I know he's that whole no-nonsense cop type, but he wouldn't actually think we would all lie about this, would he?"

"I don't know. Carlton makes it sound like he would, but there's got to be a point where he realizes something is up. He's got to look down there if he thinks it's connected to the fire," Marla asked. There was a quiet pause of doubt. "…Well, if he doesn't, Betty will. I _know_ her job's got something to do with that." Everyone was skeptical but nobody voiced it further.

They drove to Carlton's without much incident and it wasn't until they were walking up to the front door that the night before suddenly reared its head once again.

"Look at that!" Marla said in shock. She was leading the way and the first to see the state the front door was left. Unlike Charlie's, this one's damage was much more visible. It was cracked open about an inch, the doorframe scarred, and the doorknob looked loose like it was wrenched free. The others tried to get a closer look, except Charlie who stayed rooted in place. Almost afraid that they would notice her lack of shock.

"It looks like someone broke in- Wait… Wait, this looks like what we saw over at Afton's… Marla, how long ago did you talk with Carlton?" John asked, snapping his head to her.

"It was like twenty minutes ago, but he didn't… You don't think Baby broke in, do you?!" Marla asked in disbelief. "In broad daylight, like right now?!"

"I don't think that's the case," Charlie assured her. John didn't comment but was looking at the door warily and suspiciously. He grabbed Jessica's arm to stop her from getting closer, but she still leaned in to study the door closer.

"This _does_ look like what we saw at Afton's, but it wasn't Baby. We saw how Baby got through doors- she practically busted through them, but see, there's no damage on the outside of the door," Jessica pointed out with a freshly painted nail. She gestured over the doorframe and to the knob. "It was pried open just like the other door, which means it must've been open from in- Oh, hello, Mr. Burke! I didn't even see you there."

Jessica stepped aside with an awkward smile as Clay opened the door. He looked much more stone-faced than before, a feat that would've seemed impossible. He still greeted them cordially.

"Morning, kids. You're right on time," Clay said before opening the door and letting them inside. His lack of questioning and tone seemed to suggest that he already knew what was coming.

" _Did Carlton already tell him? I guess that was the only way to keep him in the house…"_ Charlie thought as she came inside. She sent an uneasy look at the door before heading into the den. Carlton was already waiting for them inside and he looked just as rough now as when they were escaping the factory the day before. _"…Or they were awake when Lefty broke out. That would explain that look."_

"Carlton has already brought me up to speed on your adventure into that old animatronic rental warehouse… And what you found down there," Clay revealed. His tone was vague enough that they couldn't tell whether he believed them or not. Regardless of Lefty, Charlie replied as though he hadn't.

"I know it sounds unbelievable, but whatever Carlton told you is true. What we went through down there really happened, regardless of how hard it is to swallow," she said reasonably.

"Oh, he believes you alright," Carlton chimed in, halting her in the middle of her explanation. "He knows allll about robots getting up and walking around at night… Especially now that _one got up last night and broke down the front door!_ "

" _What_?" John exclaimed. The others shared his look of surprise, save Lamar who looked a little skeptical and Charlie who was becoming increasingly nervous. "That's what broke the door, that bear you had?"

"Yes! I saw it myself- I heard everything going down and I came out of my bedroom to look, and Freddy was standing right there ripping the door open!" Carlton said, standing and pointing towards the door. "A-And then it looks back at me like this-." He paused to mimic the expression, a dazed look with one eye closed and the other lazily half shut. "-Like it's saying, 'Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?' Then it just sauntered out!"

"Carlton, I swear if this is a joke-!" Marla began with her hands on her hips. She cut off as she noticed Clay's continued stoic look and remembered the state of the door. "This… Isn't a joke. This really happened."

"It really happened. Here. Last night," Carlton confirmed. He spread his arms and then dropped back onto to the couch. "And we had a front row seat for it."

"You saw it too?" Charlie asked Clay. He gave a grim nod. "And Betty?"

"She was calling for backup. We assumed it was a home invasion until I came out and caught sight of it." Clay sighed exhaustedly and pinched the bridge of his nose. After a moment he drew his hand back and scanned the young adults standing in his living room. "I'm going to need you all to tell me exactly what happened down there and everything you've seen, including every bot that's moved on its own."

Charlie had known this was coming. She looked over and managed to meet John's eyes, to which he gave a nod of encouragement, so she took the lead. "First of all, these animatronics aren't running off of programming. They're completely sentient and capable of talking and thinking on their own. I don't need to tell you that that should be impossible. As far as we saw, there was the broken Circus Baby, this body made out of Baby's little helper bots and other spare pieces, and of course, Lefty."

"That body she's talking about wasn't one robot, it was the two, little doll ones. When they were separated from it, the whole thing just shut down," Marla chimed in. "The dolls kept talking though."

"And I was ambushed by some other dolls in a supply room. Except they looked like ballerinas. I think they must've gone with the Ballora animatronic that used to be down there," Jessica added.

"Those were the only animatronics that you saw?" Clay asked. There were a few nods. "Carlton said that they attacked you. I need as many details on the encounters as possible. What if any weapons they used, how they attacked, and whether there is any way to incapacitate them."

"We found a taser down there and it seemed like shocking them was the only way to stop them. If only for a little while. They didn't really have weapons, they just fought with whatever they had on them," Charlie said. Though then wondered why he needed them to go this far into detail "Why, are you planning on going down there?"

"We're getting a warrant together now and I'll be going in with a group of officers. We're going to be searching for the animatronics in question, including Freddy, and see if we can deactivate them. The sooner we can get them under control, the less likely chance we have of someone else getting hurt," he said. Charlie mentally flashed on Clay appearing at her door to look for Lefty.

"I don't know if you should go down there…" Carlton said. His tone was jarringly serious compared to his display only a few minutes earlier. "They weren't like Freddy. They didn't just walk off, they hunted us down, separated us, and tried to kill us. And I don't think bullets are going to stop them."

"I know. That's why we're going," Clay clarified solemnly. He was fully aware of what he was getting himself into. Then he turned towards Charlie, the last person who wanted to be presented in the spotlight. "But speaking of the bear, Charlie, I know you spent some time with it yesterday looking at it. I need to know if you saw anything strange when you were with it… And if it spoke to you too."

She took a deep breath; she wasn't going to lie. "No." But she couldn't leave it at that. "…But Baby said she was in the fire. That someone tried to burn her."

"I heard it too, and she had the melted metal to prove it," John said. He stepped forward to stand beside Charlie, as though to provide her with backup. "The bear could've headed that way too. They could all be heading to that factory… Or back to that factory if that's where they were built in the first place." He exchanged a look with her, both remembering those observation rooms all too well.

"If we could be so lucky," Clay muttered. He looked over the group and asked, "Anything else?" He only gave them about five second and when nobody else chimed in, his sighed deeply. "Thank you for coming to me. This will help us when we're down there. If you'll excuse me, I have some work to do downstairs while I wait for the warrant to come through." He started to head out of the living room when Jessica stopped him.

"Wait. There's… There's something else you should probably know about…" She looked to Charlie and made a 'go ahead' hand gesture. She wanted Charlie to talk about her discovery the day before.

Frankly, Charlie had planned on saying absolutely nothing about Sammy if she could've gotten away with it, but now she was backed into a corner. She had to say something; Clay needed to know the extent of William's depravity so that he would look closer at Afton Robotics and not just shrug it off for a robot hunt. She decided to choose her words carefully.

"Between what we saw down in Afton Robotics and notes I found in my father's office, I'm positive Sammy and the other children were kidnapped by William Afton. I don't know if Carlton told you about the rooms we found in the basement that looked like they belonged in a pizzeria or a house, but I…" Charlie raised her gaze to meet Clay's. "I found evidence that he kept Sammy down there for years."

"Your brother?" Clay asked.

"He was even passing him off as his own son," Jessica blurted out. Clay seemed slightly startled by this. "And then he kept him down there in a hospital bed. You'll see it when you get down there. It was on one of the observation rooms."

"Right, it's down there," Charlie said quieter. "I couldn't tell you why."

"Because he is a sick man, that's why," John added.

"Well, yeah. That's a given, but still," Charlie finished.

Clay studied their faces for a long moment to see if there was any doubt and saw nothing but certainty. He finally broke the silence with a blunt, "God almighty." He then clarified with, "I can't say I'm surprised. We all knew he was involved with the disappearances, but never had enough to charge him. We let that man walk free for years."

"I bet he's the one who started the fire," Carlton muttered under his breath. Marla patted his shoulder almost sympathetically.

Charlie knew she had an opening to tell the truth about everything and reveal what her father had done. She could crack Clay's case open in one fell swoop, give him details he wouldn't know elsewise, and hopefully end the mystery behind the missing children once and for all. She knew that it was the right thing to do, so why did it feel so difficult to do so? It couldn't just be because of Sammy, she could still hide him.

Maybe it was some deep desire to protect her father, even if he had lied to her. She could already imagine how the story would get twisted and turn him into the villain. They would think he was the one behind everything and few would learn the full truth. She wasn't sure that she agreed with his extreme methods, but hated the idea of him taking the blame while William skirted by as an afterthought when he was the one behind everything.

" _We wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for what he did. The animatronics wouldn't be possessed, the children would've never been taken, and Sammy wouldn't be… Sammy would've lived. Everyone would've lived. Why not let him take the blame? Finally, after all these years, let him be the one who they whisper about."_ Making up her mind, Charlie raised her head and said, "I think Carlton's right. I think William started the fire."

It wasn't like she would be getting in the way of their search for him. Going on that voice screaming on the recording and the rabbit appearing in her lucid nightmares, William had been in that fire. She wouldn't have put it past him to slide on that suit and sneak into the restaurant one last time, only to get caught in a giant mousetrap. Surprisingly, Charlie didn't feel vindicated by the discovery.

"You said you found a body. Or I heard you say you found a body. Is it possible that it could've been William?" she suggested. "That he came back into town when he heard Freddy's was reopening and tried to burn it down, but something went wrong and he couldn't get out in time. Maybe the animatronics stopped him. Maybe they even followed him inside, explaining why Baby was in there in the first place. That's exactly what I think happened."

Clay and the others seemed to be considering this. Not even the detective investigating the case disagreed with this assumption, perhaps because of the lack of evidence. Though there was one who spoke up.

"I don't," John said. Charlie looked to him in surprise and saw his grim face. "I think he was going to pull the same thing that he did at the other restaurants when someone found out, trapped him in there, and set the fire with him still inside." He slowly met her gaze. "…We know a few people who would've wanted that."

Charlie was almost surprised in how close John had gotten to the truth. He always was rather perceptive so she should've expected it. She agreed with a nod. "That too. That's possible."

"I'll be upfront with you two, that might be exactly what happened, but unless we find more concrete evidence there won't be enough to prove it. We may be looking at another unsolved case. The only fortunate thing being that no kids were caught up in it this time, but until we get these wandering animatronics squared away lives are still on the line." Clay turned to head to his office only to be stopped yet again.

"Clay, about Sammy… Can we keep that between us? I don't think Jen could handle it. She's still not over what happened to my dad and I don't want her to have to relive it all again," Charlie asked.

"Jenny's always been a tough woman, Charlie. I don't want to give her that news, but if we're reopening your brother's case then she will find out about it. She is still next of kin, just like you are."

"I don't want to reopen Sammy's case." Out of everything she had said, this was what got the flabbergasted looks from her friends. Even the emotional roller coaster Carlton was on grinded to a halt as he looked up at her. Jessica whispered a 'what' and Charlie backed herself up. "It's like you said, there wasn't enough evidence to solve it then and there won't be enough to solve it now. I already know what happened, I don't want Sammy to… Be another topic for the media circus. You understand."

Of course Clay understood, he was the one who warned her about it. He still seemed torn about her decision. "If we find William and bring him in for prosecution, or reopen the Freddy case in full, then we may have no choice. It would be out of my hands," he forewarned her.

"If that happens then it happens, but right now I just want to focus on the present. We can come with you to Afton's if you need us to show you where we went." Charlie noticed Jessica's tight look in particular and quickly corrected. "Or I could come with you. I still remember everything, I could lead you right to the rooms."

"While I appreciate the offer, I wouldn't put you kids anywhere near that building. You just keep close to home and keep an ear out if you hear anything suspicious, and don't go out after dark alone unless it's absolutely necessary. Carlton, once I leave I'll need you by the phone to take any calls," Clay said. Carlton got an unenthused look but agreed without argument. "We'll handle this. Mark my words, I'm not letting anything slip through the cracks this time."

That made Charlie feel slightly unnerved as she watched Clay finally head for his office. She knew he would be looking for Lefty and while it would be unlikely that he would stumble upon her doorstep randomly, she knew having that bear in the workshop was a liability. Getting rid of it wasn't going to be ease either unless she could fully take it apart and remove it piece by piece. She started to drift into thoughts of how she would go about this- could Sammy help?- when Marla spoke up.

"Charlie, I know you're afraid to rock the boat with your aunt, but you shouldn't have to cover up what happened to Sammy. What William did was horrible and people should know," she offered gently. "…I know if someone did something like that to Jason, I would want to get some sort of justice."

"I know and I do, but I just can't risk it," Charlie shot down quickly. "I already found out what happened to Sammy. That's enough for me."

"But we don't even know everything. Maybe Sammy _is_ still alive out there," Marla protested. John signaled her with a slow shake of his head and her face fell further. "…Unless you… You found something else? Like in that closed room, I thought you said it was just a box."

"It was just a box, but… It's not hard to figure out what happened after that," Charlie answered cryptically. She started thinking up an excuse to get out of the conversation and hopefully back home. Talking about Sammy only made her more aware of how risky it was leaving him alone. "I'm more worried about Baby and Lefty running around. Speaking of which, I probably should get home. I think I forgot to lock the door."

"Should we have told him about Michael?" Lamar offered up, speaking mostly to Carlton. "We all sort of forgot that he was the one suggesting something happened to Freddy's. He could've gotten stuck in the fire after he set it and William's still out on the run."

"I mean, yeah, maybe, but I'm going with John's idea that he off'd his dad and split himself. Everything about him "disappearing" before the fire screams that he was trying to make himself as little of a suspect as possible. He's probably half-way across the country by now and his name's only been dropped by us," Carlton answered. He ran his fingers through his tangled hair. "Dad's going to get killed down there. Bullets aren't going to stop those things, they're just going to ricochet off of them."

"I'm going to go now," Charlie said awkwardly. She started to back out of the room, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. "We'll meet up somewhere later. Like the diner, we could have a late lunch there."

"Wait, you're going back home?" Jessica asked in surprise. "We could have lunch now. None of us are doing anything, except maybe Carlton."

"Thanks for reminding me," Carlton muttered.

"After yesterday and today, maybe we should just try to take it easy and stick together today. I know it's going to be… Weird after all of this, but we only have a few days left together. We've got to make as much of it as we can," the blond insisted. It almost felt like pleading, showing how much she didn't want to leave on the current terms. To have the last thing she did with her friends to be uncovering a shady murder case. Charlie not only sympathized with her, she agreed with her.

"You're right. Sure, we'll meet at the diner. I just have to head home for a second and then I'll head over," Charlie said. Jessica seemed to perk back up at her willingness and Charlie took this moment to turn to head to the door. She stopped halfway through the motion when her eyes met John's own. He almost looked disappointed. "I won't be gone long."

"I can come with you," he offered.

"No, that's fine."

"Why not?" He was starting to take notice that something was off. Just looking at Charlie he could tell that she was nervous, almost just as much as she had been when they all met up the first time. Something was wrong and he was becoming concerned. "Charlie, you know you can tell us anything," he encouraged. She looked torn and he lowered his voice. "You can tell me anything."

"I know," Charlie said quietly. She averted her gaze and then gave a final, "I'll tell you at the diner." Then headed for the door and let herself out, hoping she would pull it together enough at the diner that he wouldn't end up pressing for that answer. She started towards her car. Only to stop midway and just stand there outside the front door.

"… _I'm doing it again. I'm pushing them away,"_ she realized. " _Even after everything we've gone through these last few days, I'm still running away from them. They've listened to me, they've trusted me, I've trusted them and they've been there for me this whole time…"_ She took a deep breath as she decided to not make the same mistake again.

Back inside the house, John watched Charlie leave with a bothered frown. He had half a mind to follow her out the door but resisted. Jessica noticed his concern.

"She'll be alright. You heard her, she'll tell us when we get to the diner. She probably doesn't want to risk Clay overhearing us," she reassured him. It didn't ease his mind any.

"Something else is wrong, I can tell. It can't just be what she found out about her brother, because she wasn't acting like this yesterday when she told us. She was shaken, but she wasn't… Nervous."

"Or maybe she's just had time to think about it. You've got to admit, John, this is so much for one person to take in. I'm shocked she's taking it as well as she is. Just like Marla said, if any of us had siblings who that happened to, we would be a total mess. Or I would," Jessica said. He was starting to get a little more won over, though couldn't shake the feeling that there was something amiss.

And just like that, the front door opened up again and in walked Charlie. Neither expected her back so quickly and before they could ask she beat them to it.

"Sammy came home last night."

It took a second for the words to make sense. Jessica blinked in confusion before asking, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Sammy came home," Charlie repeated. Her face still marred with that nervousness but her voice showing no sign of uncertainty. "That's why I need to go check on the house. That's why I don't want Clay to get involved with looking for him. Sammy's at the house right now."

"Oh my gosh…" Marla blurted out from behind them, making them aware that the other three were listening in. "Oh my gosh! Charlie, that's wonderful!" She rushed up to her friend with a beaming smile and took her hand. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"Wait, this doesn't make any sense," Carlton spoke up. "Your brother? I thought you said you thought he was dead. He just showed up at the… House?" An uneasy look of realization slowly crossed his face. Nobody seemed to notice this look and were too busy noticing the oddity of the situation, save Marla who still was choosing to remain optimistic.

"See, the thing is that he… Clay can't find out about this. In fact, nobody can find out about this," Charlie admitted vaguely. Fishing for assurances that they would keep this secret. "But I trust you all to not tell."

"Of course we won't. As long as you're not in danger, you can trust us with that," John reaffirmed, laying a gentle hand on her back. He was starting to get his own suspicions and her hesitance gave him a moment to voice them. "…Is Michael Sammy? Is that how you found out about him being kept by William?"

"That's actually a really good guess, but he's not. He's not… human anymore," Charlie finally got out. Her heart was pounding like she was running a marathon as she awaited the reaction.

The first one came directly from Carlton, who apparently caught on before everyone else, and gave a blunt, "Please tell me Sammy isn't the bear."

"He isn't the bear… But he did come out of it."

Marla's eyes popped open. "Charlie!?"

"He was trapped inside of it. It's a long story. Please, you have to keep your voice down," Charlie nearly pleaded. Marla complied but still looked just as startled. "I know what you're thinking, but he's not like Baby."

"Charlie, you're saying he's-?!" Jessica began before cutting off. She almost seemed at a loss for words and it took her a few seconds to find them, unsettled as they still were. "Are… Are you sure about that?"

"I'm positive. He was with me all night last night and no once did he try to attack me or leave the house. He remembers me, but only about as well as I remember him," Charlie trailed off momentarily. She knew how she came off and she could see the looks on their faces, but she still trusted them. She knew she could convince them. "I know it's asking a lot, but if you come by the house I can show you the bear and explain what happened-."

"Nope," Carlton cut in. He raised his hands in defense. "No way am I going anywhere near that bear. Sorry, but I'm not doing that, brother or not." Charlie sent him an unenthused look. "Hey, I've already been traumatized by that bear once today. I've seen that thing rip open a door. There's no way I'm going anywhere near that thing."

"No problem. You're supposed to be manning the phone anyways," John dismissed. He seemed unamused, a feeling Carlton felt was mutual after the brush off, and turned his focus back on Charlie. Seeing her desperate look seemed to only bend his arm until he went against his better judgement. "…Alright, I'll come with you. If you say he's safe then I believe you. Besides… I want to see him for myself."

She gave him a half smile. "Brace yourself, he's some sort of mime."

"He just became a lot more terrifying," John said semi-seriously. Despite his reservations, he did manage a smile back.

"What about you guys?" Charlie asked, looking back to the others. They, especially Jessica, seemed a little more skeptical. "It'll be safe, I promise. You might not even see Sammy, he might not be ready for that."

"Well… Sure, okay," Jessica said uneasily. She forced a too-wide smile. "We'll meet Sammy. Your brother!... But you do still have the taser? Just in case he _really_ isn't ready?"

"It's in the car. We don't need it though, because if there's any sign of him getting worked up we'll just back out. He's not like Baby, he's not going to follow us."

"Then I guess I'm in too," Lamar agreed. "We're already in this deep, and what else have I got going for me today?"

"Count me in too," Marla also agreed. Surprisingly, she seemed to be a little more curious than the others, and looked to be the only one who was fully confident in Charlie's assurances. Or at least, she put on a front that covered any visible doubt, which was impressive considering her shock earlier. She reached out and ruffled Carlton's hair, "You just wait here. I'll call you when we're fixing to leave." Then pulled him in to give him a quick peck on the cheek.

Carlton almost stuck by his word until Marla started following the others to the door. That's when he quickly caved. "Wait up, I'm coming," he said defeatedly. He then strode further into his house before calling to his father, "I'm stepping out for a sec, Dad! I'll be back before you leave!" He hurried back to the door, closing it behind them, before adding with a point, "But I'm staying outside this time."

"No, you won't. I'm living proof that you'll always find a way to convince yourself to go against your better judgement and go inside," Lamar said. He got out his keys and twirled them in his hand as he led towards his car, which was blocking the driveway. "You know he's still going to ask when you get back."

"I'll just tell him I had to move some furniture or something," he shrugged off nonchalantly.

Charlie considered it before offering, "Actually… If you want something to move then I might have something, but you're not going to like it."

Carlton wasn't sure if he liked where this was going. He decided to sink into the background just in case. Something that most of the others shared by time they arrived at Charlie's front door. They all stayed close but only John was willing to stand alongside Charlie, perhaps as something of a bodyguard. She noticed it as she unlocked the door.

"I'm going to go in first, alone, and tell Sammy what's going on. Don't come in until I tell you to, okay?" she said while looking directly at John. She had a suspicion that he would try to follow her in if given the chance. He agreed and she stepped inside, shutting the door to a crack behind her.

"Sammy? I'm back!" Charlie called. She was met with silence. Considering that he had been staying upstairs, she wasn't too surprised by it, and headed towards the stairs. As she got closer she started to hear a strange noise that sounded almost like a computer dialing up. "Sammy?" she called again before she stumbled on the rug that was still wrinkled from last night.

She stopped long enough to fix it with her boot, and while her head was down the dialing grew closer. In only a moment it was standing above her, and she looked back up to see Sammy on the steps.

Except something was different now. His body was rigid and upright, with his arms tight at his side, and standing perfectly still. His mask was stuck on that neutral smile, which now seemed so unnatural when compared to his expressive features just that morning. He had been so gentle and welcoming earlier; it was like night and day.

Charlie knew exactly what was wrong: Sammy knew the others were outside.

"Hey. Sorry it took me so long to get back. Clay's a little on edge, but I'm sure you know why," she greeted with a gentle smile. His gaze lowered before suddenly darting in the direction of the front door. "…And I'm pretty sure that you know my friends are outside too. They're going to come in for a few minutes." The dialing noise, which was clearly coming from his chest, grew louder. He was definitely not ready to meet them.

"They're just going to come in and look at Lefty. Clay's worked up about finding it and I think it's probably for the best if we get it out of the house… I think we'd both sleep easier without it sitting in here," Charlie explained. The dialing grew softer almost instantly, still present but losing its harsh edge. The smile started to falter and the eyes almost looked tired, still staring towards the door. "But I'm going to need help doing that, so is it okay if I let them in? I won't bring them upstairs."

The Puppet seemed to consider this for a long moment. It was apparent that he was not comfortable with the situation, she even noticed his fingers beginning to curl as though in discomfort. Without warning, he gave a curt nod, turned, and darted up the stairs. She didn't know if she was more surprised by his speed or his willingness to agree to this, but was relieved either way. The noise disappeared with him.

Charlie returned to the front door and opened it for the others. "Slight change of plans. We're going to just head straight into the garage and figure out what to do with Lefty. Sammy's going to keep to himself."

"Sounds alright with me," John said. He stepped in and looked around at the dark house, which was illuminated a few moments later when Charlie reached over and flicked on the light switch. "What was that noise?"

"That's Sammy. He's been trying to get online, but it's just not working out. It would probably help if we still had a phone line," Charlie lightly joked. She opened the door wider to usher the others in.

Jessica and Lamar came in semi-cautiously. Marla stood in the doorway trying to beckon Carlton to follow, to which he gave a nonchalant wave, a silent refusal to move from his spot leaning on the car. She gave up and headed inside without him, shrugging at Charlie before following her to the garage. The door was left open halfway in case he changed his mind.

Lefty was right where it had been left and had remained undisturbed overnight. The light fell directly on the empty husk, its belly still open and revealing the storage tank inside. Seeing it again and remembering the effort to get it open sent a chill down Charlie spine. It looked so much more unnatural in the daytime.

"That really is Lefty. You said you found Sammy inside of it?" Marla asked and Charlie nodded. "That's crazy. How'd you even get it open?"

"We had to pry it open enough for me to unscrew the latches inside. You believe how many layers of security were trying to keep this bear closed. It had automatic locks, a built-in taser… Sammy would've never gotten out on his own," Charlie said. By the end, her downcast eyes spoke more than her words could. All while the empty bear just sat there ominously.

"Whoever put him in there obviously didn't want him to come out," John said, purposefully pointing out the obvious to lead into his next question. "Do you know who did it?"

"Yeah," she said. She took a deep breath. "It was my dad."

"He's been in there all this time?" Jessica asked. Even if she didn't feel safe with the situation, one look at the tight space inside the bear's chest made her sympathetic. "That must've been horrible."

"Yeah, it was…" Charlie agreed. She felt a clenching in her chest as she stared at that bear and thought about her father, and the recording from the night before. "There were a lot of things I found out about my dad last night. Sammy played me a recording and the things in it were just… Too much. I'm not ready to talk about it. I will eventually, I promise, but right now… Now's not a good time. There's too much going on."

Any worry was alleviated when Jessica took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "That's okay. Whenever you're ready, we'll be right here," she said. Then she looked towards Lefty and with a pensive look and a hand on her hip. "But Mr. Bear here's going to have to go. The sooner the better. So… Any ideas?" There was a moment of consideration.

"I've got one that sounds bad, but might actually work," Lamar volunteered. The others looked to him. "Let's just take the bear and dump it beside the highway."

After a moment of pause, John shrugged and gave a non-serious, "Sure. Can't see that going wrong."

"I'm serious, just think about it for a second. If we dump it someplace in plain sight then the cops will find it and deal with it without tracing it back to us. Like this, we close up the chest-." Lamar picked up the cover and tried to fit it back on the bear's belly. He was cautious for a moment until he was sure it wasn't going to move. "-and when Clay or whoever finds it, they just think it walked itself out there and shut down. They already know it can walk on its own."

"…That's a good point," Charlie said. Chances were that wherever the bear went it would eventually be found by the police, and the further it was from the house when that happened then the better. They wouldn't be able to figure out what the bear was used for or why it suddenly wasn't moving anymore. "You're right. We have to get rid of it in a way where it can still be found, so Clay doesn't think there's a animatronic on the loose. We can wait until it gets late and take it out where it'll be found."

"I guess that might work… We'd have to stage it, make fake footprints, but it could work," Jessica agreed. For a moment it seemed like a good plan. "…If we _can_ move it." Until reality reared its ugly head.

This was going to be another long day, they could all already tell.

After about thirty minutes of standing outside, Carlton's resolve was starting to waver. It wasn't like he felt anymore comfortable going in and seeing the bear, but he was having a tough time standing outside when he didn't know what was going on. As far as he knew, there could've already been an attack. Though more likely the others were just standing inside doing whatever while he was stuck out here twiddling his thumbs.

"That's it, I'm going in," he finally decided. Before he could second guess it, he strode up to the front door and headed into the house. He headed towards the workshop where he could hear the others' voices.

Only to stop in his tracks when he spotted what was standing outside the door. Its long, thin, inhuman body could've been mistaken for some sort of abstract coatrack if not illuminated by the light from the next room. It didn't take him long to realize that this had to be the 'mime' that Charlie had mentioned that was silently watching the others from the hallway.

Then it began to slowly turn its head in his direction. Carlton was rooted to the spot as its empty eyes fell onto him. Its wide grin seemed menacing, especially when its pupils began to glow, aimed directly on him.

They stared at each other for a long moment in complete silence.

Until it turned away from him and made its way down towards the stairs. It didn't even look like its legs were moving and once it had turned off onto the stairs he began hearing that same dialing that the others heard earlier. It hadn't even looked concerned with him. It just turned away from him and left, exactly like Lefty had done.

Carlton went right back outside and had no temptation to return.


	12. Decisions

Charlie was well aware that Sammy had been watching them the entire time they were there. Once or twice she caught glimpses of him, especially when they left the workshop to plan in the front room. It wasn't hard to notice a dark shape just edging out from behind the wall. The others didn't give any indication that they noticed so Charlie hadn't brought it up. She just let Sammy watch them, hoping that through it he would become more comfortable with them.

The plan was basic enough. John knew someone he could borrow a truck from, someone who worked in construction, and would bring it by around eleven. Before then, Charlie would see if she could dismantle Lefty and make it easier for them to move. They would then find a spot, dump the bear, and Charlie would quickly put it back together while the others staged the scene.

Charlie wasn't entirely confident in her abilities to take animatronics apart and put back together, but she was hopeful that as long as she did a visually good job, the unsuspecting eye might not notice. And if she couldn't, they could always try to stage it to look like it got hit by a car or something. Anything to get Lefty out of the house.

Unlike the times before, the others were a little less reluctant to leave the house. There was a plan set and they knew Charlie was confident- enough- in what she was doing. The only one who paused was John.

"It shouldn't take me too long to get the truck. I could swing back by when I'm done or we could meet somewhere," he offered. Charlie smiled a little at the offer.

"We'll see how long it takes me to take the bear apart then I'll call you," she agreed. He nodded and made his way down the steps. She didn't plan to call him right away, but didn't feel like letting him down after how much support he had given her. Even if this whole romantic affair still felt very weird to her. She knew that soon enough she would have to decide on what to do.

"Be careful!" Jessica called with a wave.

"I will," Charlie returned with a wave as she watched them load into their cars. She headed back inside as they began pulling out of the driveway and closed the door behind her. "They're gone, Sammy. It's safe to come out now."

The Puppet edged out of the living room cautiously and still seemed wary around the door. Once he was certain nobody was coming back in, Sammy hurried in and took her by the wrist before leading her further into the house. She went along with it and was led into their father's office where she realized he had been at work.

There were drawings sketched in pen ink on printer paper scattered and stacked on the desk. As Charlie got closer she could see them better and could make out some of the images, including Baby's own on one.

"Did you draw all of these last night?" Charlie asked. Sammy nodded almost eagerly and brushed his hand over a small stack and splayed them out before her. Each one showing a different image, some human and some animatronics. Though it was the picture of Baby in her hands that caught her interest as it showed a slightly less damaged version of her from before the fire. This gave Charlie an idea. "Did you draw pictures of the other animatronics who were at the pizzeria?"

Another nod and Sammy began shuffled through the papers. Soon he drew out a few in particular and laid them before her. The first one presented looked like a mess at first glance, but closer inspection seemed to reveal some sort of disfigured bear head surrounded by a matted mess of wires. She wondered how it could even move on its own.

The next picture was just a sketch of Freddy and his band on their stage. This drawing had a little less detail than the one before it, perhaps because he knew that she had already seen them.

"Were these ones alive too? Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy?" Charlie asked as she showed him the drawing. He moved his head slightly like he was glancing, shook his head, and returned to the drawing clutched in his hand. He seemed to be looking at it more intensely. "What's that?" she asked. He handed it over a lot slower than he had the others and she soon realized why.

It was the rabbit. It was uncolored so she couldn't see that tell-tale golden hue, but she could still it was the Bonnie suit that haunted her nightmares, and most likely the old diner.

"I knew it. This was William, right? He was there too…" Charlie said to Sammy's agreement. She hadn't seen the costume too well in her shared dreams, but had imagined it as being a revolting, rotten thing, and the drawing seemed to confirm that, with large tears in the suit and even half of its arm missing. Between that and the gaunt shape that it had been drawn in, Charlie made a startling realization. "He wasn't just wearing his suit, he _was_ the suit. That… Makes too much sense, actually."

Sammy gave a chiming that rung like laughter and turned his attention quickly to the other pictures. He seemed determined to not look at the rabbit. The next picture that he handed her was of the businessman wearing the Freddy head. By now, Charlie already knew who this was.

"Michael…" Sammy looked just as disappointed as she was. If what Michael had said was true, they were raised as brothers for at least a little while, so she supposed they would've become close. Michael had sounded sorrowful about the loss of his brother, maybe he didn't ever find out the truth about who he was. She looked up to see that Sammy's face had fallen to a small, closed smile. She wanted to comfort him.

"…Maybe he got out in time. Clay said that they only found one body, so… It's possible…" Charlie tried. In that vein of thought, her father might've survived too. Though after hearing that recording she highly doubted that he willingly walked out. Her eyes fell to the desk again and, thankfully, landed almost immediately on a distraction. Among the animatronic sketches there was one of a human profile.

"Hey, what's this?" Charlie uncovered the paper and lifted it to look closer. It didn't take her long to recognize the disinterested looking man drawn on it. "Is this Schmidt?" Sammy regained his smile and nodded eagerly. She got a small one of her own. "So, you _were_ watching him. He said that he thought "Lefty" was eyeing him from across the room," she added.

His eyes widened for a moment and his smile got a little lopsided; maybe he was embarrassed. The way he quickly, but gently, retook the sketch and turned away towards the desk seemed to back that up. He tried to subtly slip it back into the stack a few moments later, which she noticed but didn't comment on.

"In case you're worried about him, he's doing fine. I talked with him yesterday and he sounded alright. Maybe a little less than thrilled about looking for a new job… I have his number if you want to call him yourself," Charlie lightly teased. Sammy made a disapproving whirring noise in his chest. For some reason, this was what finally made her take note of his lack of speech. "Don't take this the wrong way, because I'm just curious, but why can't you speak like Baby could? Is it something in how you're made?"

She fully anticipated an explanation involving how Sammy's body was different from Baby's. It was apparent just from looks alone, but the differences between the crackling speaker and the chiming noises was enough to pique her interest further. The technician inside her wanted to find out everything about how the Puppet 'ticked'. How he could levitate, why his mask would change, and what it was trilling in his chest.

…Except Sammy didn't make any effort to answer her. She should've known he would've had trouble answering a question like that when he had been responding through nods and shakes of his head, but it was quickly apparent that wasn't the problem. That smile began to slowly close once again, the porcelain moving as smoothly as skin, and an almost somber look replacing it. Or maybe it was guilt, or maybe shame.

"Not that we're not communicating fine without talking. It's okay if you can't talk, Sammy," Charlie tried to assure him. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye before shaking his head. She wasn't sure what that meant, so she had to guess. "It's not okay, or... Or you can talk?" He swayed uneasily and dragged his dark fingers over the many sketches. She started catching on. "Can you talk?"

Finally, Sammy nodded again, but he made no attempt to speak following it. He almost seemed reluctant to do so and somehow it came to Charlie that he wasn't speaking because he didn't want to. Something about that made her feel a strange amount of protectiveness, wondering what it was that made him want to stay silent. Then deciding that maybe it was best if she didn't know.

"It's alright, Sammy. You don't have to. Like I said, we're doing fine like this," Charlie reassured as she reached for his shoulder, similar to how her friends had reinforced her earlier. He tilted his head a little, not in confusion but more in unsureness. She smiled and tried to lighten the mood. "You could… Always send Schmidt a letter. I'm at least ninety-nine percent sure that he knows how to read."

That worked like a charm. The ringing returned, the puppet perked up, and he even managed a smile again. He must've been relieved that she wasn't pushing for him to explain. So much so, that he got a new idea and turned back to the desk, getting the pen he used to draw and a clean piece of paper.

Assuming that he was going to draw something new, Charlie turned away to let him work and looked back over his previous pieces. She noticed some of the sketches that he hadn't shown her and moved them closer to see better. They ranged from simple doodles to detailed sketches like the ones she had seen already. Some of them were of Freddy and the gang, both cartoon versions and some drawn like animatronics, but many were characters she didn't recognize. Like a boy holding a balloon, a beaver with a buck-toothed smile, and even a crocodile with a crooked jaw.

" _Look at all of these. Just on the different Freddy's alone, there must've been dozens of animatronics. They couldn't have all been haunted, right?"_ Charlie wondered. She really hoped they weren't. _"He must've been in a few different pizzeria. Or saw them in a factory like Afton's."_ So, maybe he had moved around. That made her feel better than going from bed to box to bear.

It did open her eyes to their current situation though. There weren't any other Freddy's left. No working animatronic factories that she knew of, no diners still functioning, and very few former employees that would even admit to having worked at Freddy's. He had nowhere to go. Not that she intended to let him go to another Freddy's, but now she realized the option was entirely off the table.

Now Charlie was going to have to think some things through. So far she had just been going along with it and waiting to plan things later. She would worry about school later, worry about Aunt Jen later, worry about the risks later, and now it was later and she still wasn't sure how they were going to go about this. She was totally out of her element.

As if Sammy had read her mind, he nudged the paper over to her and set the pen aside. Then watched her expectantly as she looked at it and found only a short message, the first words he returned to her.

" _I'm glad to be home."_

Charlie breath caught as the heaviness of the comment sunk in. It reminded her that it wasn't just her anymore. Whatever decisions made would effect both of them and, realistically, were going to have to be made with both of them in mind. But to her surprise, she wasn't bothered by it. If anything it made her more determined to work this out.

Charlie smiled to him and replied, "Yeah, me too."

* * *

Clay had believed his son and his friends' story even when it sounded ridiculous. Though he might've had trouble doing so if he hadn't witnessed the bear breaking out from the basement. He was used to Carlton trying to smooth talk his way out of something or making a joke, but he knew when he was being honest. That stone-cold seriousness on his face had showed his honesty.

Yet he still felt his stomach twist when he had found the first concrete evidence that the story had been true, the sprawled remains of legs and wires that had been the doll amalgam. Chase was the first to see it and swore so loudly that if there was anything else down here it surely knew about them. For that alone, he was left to guard the thing with Dunn while Clay led the rest of the officers to the Circus Gallery.

The further he got into the basement, the more he saw to prove that what they said was true. He found the stacked objects that had been used to block the door, the empty Baby shell, and even the hatch that fit the description of the fake pizzeria. Clay steadied his flashlight and- against the wishes of some of the other officers- went in first. What he found was nothing short of horrifying.

" _I don't understand. I was sure this property was checked, did everyone really walk past the these hatches without checking what was inside?"_ It was a disturbing thought. Of course, at the time he wouldn't have had the authority to launch an investigation of his own, but if he would've known this was here he would've risked his badge to come down himself.

It was once he stepped out of the dining room that he heard the voices. They were hushed and hard to make out, but clearly not from his own men. Not with the strange mechanical noise accompanying them. He signaled for the other officers to quiet down and draw their weapons, which they did eagerly. He made sure that they were all carrying stun guns, but he wasn't confident that they could take down something like this. Not if what Carlton and the others said was true.

As he opened the door into the 'outside' area, he heard the voices suddenly halt and footsteps replace them. Along with a wheeling noise that sounded suspiciously like had been described of Baby.

"They're on the move. Stay close and keep your guard up," Clay warned before quickly following after the sound. The officers flanked him as he made it down the path of the playground.

"This whole place looks like my kid's daycare," one of the officers muttered. It must've then come to him what it being there meant. "This guy was a sicko."

Clay agreed fully but remained silent. As soon as he stepped around the corner, he caught sight of the door to the fake house suddenly slamming shut, followed by a crashing noise from inside. The police rushed it in moments and only gave a warning of, "HCPD! Open the door!" before they very forcibly began to push their way through.

Something on the other side had thrown a small bookcase down in front of the door but it did little to keep them from shoving through. A second door had slammed shut on the other side and Clay rounded on it quickly, trying to get through before it too was blocked off. As luck would have it, this one had a lock on it.

They had brought a Halligan bar with them so with a little force they were able to get the door open. What waited for them was a small, cramped bathroom and nothing else. The room smelled rancid and the source was the bathtub which was full of grimy water. The stained sink wasn't much better. None of this mattered as much as the paneling removed from the lower wall across from the toilet.

Clay cautiously leaned into the opening and could see a narrow crawlspace leading back into the darkness. From deep inside he could hear the clatter of metal and a the thumps and squeaks of something crawling further away. It had to be Circus Baby and Clay knew he couldn't let her escape.

"I'm going in, someone cover me. Stay back about twenty feet and keep the stun gun ready just in case she turns. The rest of you see if there's another way around to cut her off," he directed. Then he disappeared into the tight space and began to pursue the escaping figure.

It was a slow crawl, with most of the room above blocked with water pipes and electrical wires. Neither of which should've been this close together and meant at any moment the crawlspace could become a deathtrap. He had to keep low as he kept crouched and slowly edged around the corner.

Even as he was doing all of this, hearing the metal squeaking, and holding the tasing gun tight, he could've still believed it was a human down here. It seemed like the further he got from the memory of the doll amalgam, the more he wanted to convince himself that it was as simple as a human pulling the strings, even if it was William Afton himself. It would make everything so much easier to swallow.

Until he got around the next turn and saw green eyes glowing back at him. Then there was no denying what he was seeing was very real.

Charlie had said Baby could talk, maybe he could coax it into giving itself up. It seldom worked with human, but it was worth a shot if it would spare him fighting in a small space. "Baby?" He raised his light and Baby flinched back with a hissing noise. Not a good start, clearly aggressive, so he played his cards. "Baby, you're surrounded. There's nowhere for you to run to. Give yourself up and we won't need to use force."

Baby reacted about as well as he expected. She turned herself in the tight space, metal groaning and clicking in protest, and began to hurriedly crawl away. Clay was quick to follow, standing a little more but still bowed down enough to not risk hitting anything. The cops behind him struggled to keep up and were soon left behind.

Eventually Clay caught side of the backside of Baby as she clawed her way out of another break in the wall and thudded to her feet. She skated on squeaky wheels through a room filled with useless servers and rammed herself shoulder first into the door waiting on the other side. Only this time the door was reinforced and didn't give to the direct assault. She tried to ram it again, but this attempt was even less powerful.

She swiveled on her wheels to try and get better traction before looking back to see her pursuer climbing out behind her. She turned on him with an threatening shudder with her claw bared aggressively. Clay reacted by raising the stun gun with the full intention of subduing her now. It was clear that trying to reason with her wouldn't work. He aimed it directly at the center of the crazed machine's chest.

Only to be blindsided by something slamming into his side with nearly identical strength to Baby hitting the door. It took Clay completely off-guard and he was easily taken to the ground by the weight. The flashlight flew from his hand, but kept his grip on the stun gun, and reflexively fired off towards Baby when hit. It missed her by a foot and the prongs fell to the ground worthlessly.

Him and the unseen weight crashed to the ground heavily. With the flashlight thrown aside, he couldn't make much of the creature above him except that it was covered in metal wires and was stronger than any human. It manhandled him easily, grabbing him by his vest and forcing him into the corner as it hovered above him. Clay reached for his gun when it suddenly grabbed his upper arms and dug in its fingers.

Without warning, it released an electrical current through its hands and into his arms. The voltage was just strong enough to spread through his arms and cause his whole body to seize; stronger than a stun gun, not strong enough to kill. Just enough to leave Clay completely defenseless and shuddering on the floor until the electrocution was halted.

It was in that moment of freedom that Clay caught sight of what stood above him. All he could see was the edges of wires and glowing, purple eyes.

Before the creature could do anything more, prongs shot out of the vent and clattered against its chest without sticking. The officer behind him had caught up and while the taser was entirely ineffective, the act seemed to startle the animatronic and it recoiled back. It was only now that Clay recognized the loud banging every few seconds and realized that Baby was still slamming against the door.

Clay went for his gun again, slowly as to not tip off whatever wired being was still crouched beside him. It didn't notice and instead grabbed up the prongs and suddenly yanked its arm back, ripping the stun gun out of the officer's hand. It clattered on the floor right as Baby broke through the door. The second it swung open, a chorus of voices came from the other side. Baby looked around in alarm before quickly skating off.

The second animatronic's head turned back sharply before it lunged off the ground and ran after her. Clay swung out his gun and fired after it, but if any of the bullets hit then they did nothing to slow it down. The officers on the outside took the sound as a signal to begin firing as well, but also seemed to have little success. He could hear his men hot in pursuit as the officer who follower him climbed out of the vent.

"Chief, are you alright?!" the officer asked in shock as he crouched beside him. He could see how much Clay's arm was shaking- not out of fear, but from his muscles still twitching from the volts.

"I'm fine, I'll walk it off," Clay gruffly affirmed. He dropped his arm to his side. "…Radio the others. We need to get a perimeter set up around the building and make sure whatever's in here doesn't get out."

Even with the officer getting out the radio to do so, a second officer coming up in the vent, and the rest of the group following on the robots' trail, Clay had a bad feeling that they were already too late. That they had lost their one chance to corner the threat and had let something awful slip out of their reach. There was something malicious in those purple eyes, even more so than Baby's own.

Hurricane would never be the same.

* * *

It was nearly midnight when the plan went into action. They had deemed the road that led to Afton Robotics to be the 'dropping point'. Both because of the lack of houses surrounding it and because it meant the bear would be found faster, and fit in with the belief that it would be moving towards the factory. Nobody was around to see a pick-up truck suddenly swerve onto the side of the road and park beside a ditch.

The tightly packed gang jumped out of the truck and began to work fast. John yanked open the tailgate and with Charlie and Carlton's help dragged Lefty's armless and headless body out of the back. The legs had been too deeply set into the suit to be removed, but the limbs that were taken off helped dramatically with the weight of it. Marla and Lamar joined in and helped them drag it into the ditch before going back to get the arms and head.

"Hold this?" Charlie offered the flashlight to Jessica, who nodded and shined the light on the bear. Charlie crouched down and started to pick up and level one of the arms before John stepped in to help.

"Here, I've got it. Just tell me where to put it and you worry about getting it on," he said. He knelt beside her and took the arm.

"Thanks. Just hold it right… Here," Charlie said, angling the arm. "And just slide it in a little. I'll attach it from the inside." She removed the loosely set hatch and reached in over the storage tank to feel for where the arm would set. The storage tank being the reason she would still be going on feeling more than sight and why she hadn't been able to reach the legs. Thankfully, she was able to get the bolts and wrench set blindly.

"Bet you didn't think you were going to be doing field work this early. Or without pay," John lightly joked. Charlie smiled back, feeling a little ease in tension in the otherwise dire mood.

"And what do you call our run-in with Circus Baby, an unpaid vacation?" Jessica asked. She seemed a little more tense, but intended to keep the situation calm. She watched as Charlie tightened the bolts, what she could of it, and was impressed. "I don't know how you're doing this so easily."

"I'm just working backwards is all. Just everything I did earlier in reverse. Anyone can screw in a bolt," Charlie dismissed. Though she couldn't help but feel a little proud of the compliment. In comparison to the droning lessons at school, working on animatronics directly really did make her feel like a real technician. Even if she wasn't exactly fixing it, but making it look presentable.

In the meantime, Marla and Carlton were doing their best to somewhat stage the area. This mean making somewhat realistic footprints in the dirt and hoping they were believable.

"We're going to have to have him coming from the road. If we have the footprints coming from that way and suddenly stop then they might tell that they're fake," Carlton said. He studied the road and ditch as he tried to picture the scene like he knew his father would. "And we're going to do that, then we've got to loop the footprints this way and make it look like he fell backwards. Like he fell into the ditch."

"If you're sure they're going to pay that much attention, but this dirt's not super loose. It's going to look weird if we put too much detail," Marla offered. Still she leaned down and began to use a rock to rub at the dirt, trying to make what looked like an impression.

"It's better this way, trust me. Let the scene tell the story and there's not going to be any questions… Or arrests."

"Hey guys, I think someone's coming," Lamar called. He had been standing by the tailgate to keep an eye out for any oncoming cars, and he currently spotted a pair of headlights in the distance. They vehicle was too far to make out any details about it. Still, everyone began to work at double speed, including Charlie who finished tightening the bolts into place. The arm wasn't functional, but it at least looked like it was.

"Got it! Alright, onto the next one," Charlie said. She quickly grabbed up the second arm and slid its post in place, with John hurrying around Lefty to hold it for her again. She reached into its chest and began to start tightening the bolts holding the skeleton together. "Are they still coming?"

"I don't know. It looks like they're stopped down there. They might be watching us," Lamar warned. He continued watching the lights with baited breath before seeing them turn as the car pulled off onto an adjacent road. He breathed a sigh of relief. "False alarm. Don't let that slow you down though."

"I won't," Charlie promised. She managed to get the second arm done faster than the first and the finish line was in sight.

Now it was just a matter of putting the head back on. John hefted it up over the neck and Charlie guided the neck post down where it was supposed to go before reaching inside and beginning to work. It was more difficult to reach where she was supposed to this time, but she expected that. The neck's bolts were situated towards the back and the space around them had been tight.

She had to have Sammy to unscrew them, which he had done speedily and with an unsettled look on his face. He had locked eyes with the bear the entire time, as though watching and waiting for it to move, but it hadn't. He then dropped the bolts into Charlie's hand, unlocked a few additional latches, and lifted off the head without much issue. Charlie had to work backwards from that.

"You've got this," Jessica encouraged. She still angled the flashlight at the bear, but was now watching the road with Lamar. Everyone was becoming more paranoid the longer they were there.

"I'm almost there. Just hold it for a few more seconds, John…" Charlie trailed off. She continued tightening the second bolt until it wouldn't turn anymore. The head still felt wobbly, but there wasn't much else she could do for it. _"Guess this is going to have to be good enough,"_ she thought. She drew her hands out of the bear. "That's good. Just be careful when you set it down." John nodded and laid it back in the ditch.

"Alright, we. Are. Out of here!" Marla announced before outright running to the car. Carlton followed and promptly threw himself in the other side and sat in the window seat before she could. She gave a frustrated, "Carlton!" before giving in, going around, and getting stuck back in the middle. Jessica and Charlie squeezed in beside her while John got in the driver's seat, Lamar already in the passenger's.

"So we don't leave tire marks, I'm going to drive down to the Afton parking lot and turn around there. I'm pretty sure those cameras aren't up and working anymore, and if they are nobody's going to find anything weird about a random truck turning around in it," John explained. He began to drive down the road and Lamar got an uneasy look on his face. He stayed silent for a little while before speaking up.

"I'm just going to come out and say it. I'm worried about that car that saw us earlier. Like, I don't think they were spying on us, but it's hard not to notice a bunch of people standing around a parked truck in the middle of the night. If the police come out on the news asking for information, then we could be in trouble," he said. He looked out the window with a slow exhale. "Maybe I'm just paranoid, I don't know."

"No, I get it. Don't worry about it. It's not like any of us are going to be in town this time next week," John assured.

" _I will_ ," Carlton clarified.

"Right. Sorry," John apologized. Then he turned to Lamar and clarified, "Don't worry about it. Carlton's going to take the fall for us." Carlton scoffed and sat back into the backseat.

What John had said that piqued Charlie's interest though. This was the perfect time to tell them about her plan and see what they thought about it. "Hey, so… I was thinking about something," she began.

"Oh?" Jessica asked curiously. She assumed it was something relating to the bear or the police.

"About what John said, about us not being here next week. It's been a… Crazy week. It feels like it went by so fast-."

"Hold that thought, Charlie. You guys might want to look at this," John interrupted. There was a disturbed tone on his voice which immediately caught everyone's attention, and it was clear that it had something to do with the building they were pulling up on, Afton Robotics. Charlie looked out the window and realized right away what caught his attention.

There were at least five police cars parked in the parking lot. The lights were all on inside, illuminating the windows, and a few cops standing right inside the now open front doors.

"They're still here? I thought they would've left hours ago," Jessica said in surprise. She turned to Carlton, eyes still on the parking lot, and asked, "…Did your dad say they found Baby, or…?"

"Dad didn't get home yet." Jessica's eyes widened, Marla and Charlie got uneasy looks, and Carlton saw them all and was quick to add, "Which, to be fair, is normal. He was on the Freddy fire way later than this."

"So, you don't think anything happened? Baby was vicious. Somebody could've gotten hurt," Marla said quietly. The redhead shook his head in assurance.

"Nah. I mean, anything's possible, but this is totally normal stuff. If we saw an ambulance or a coroner, then I'd be worried," Carlton said. He sounded sure of his words, or maybe just sure enough to cover up his concern. "…You don't see one, right?"

"No, just cops. But I do see a reason for us to drive past the parking lot and hope we get a turn around spot before the road ends," Lamar offered. John agreed with a nod and kept driving.

Charlie tried to look into the building as they passed but couldn't make anything of what was going on inside. She decided to wait on what she was going to say until they were out of the woods. She looked out the back window as the drove past Lefty again and caught only a glimpse of its form slumped in the ditch. She was relieved to put it literally and figuratively behind her, and tried to not think of her father while doing so.

By time they arrived back at the house, everyone's sleeping pattern was showing on their faces. Marla had yawned a few times in the car and Lamar was slowing down considerably. In contrast, Carlton was wide awake and Jessica was alert, but not as energized as usual. John was as unreadable as usual and Charlie herself was exhausted for a completely different reason. Though she didn't let that discourage her and caught everyone before they could head to their cars.

"So, what I was saying in the car. I was thinking about how this whole thing has kind of been both a blessing and a curse," Charlie began, catching everyone's attention. "We all came here just thinking we were going to meet up, catch up, have a little fun, and that was going to be it, and instead we're… Dumping bears on the side of the road in the middle of the night. And in a way, it kind of ruined what we came here to do, but I also kind of feel like it brought us closer together."

"I know what you mean. Like, this has all been crazy, but its just been so good to meet you guys again?" Marla offered. She smiled at her friends. "If you would've told me two weeks ago that all of us were going to meet up and go on some sort of crazy adventure like this, I wouldn't have believed it, but I would've loved it. Take all of the danger out of this and I would have loved this."

"It really has been something else… I'll be honest, its been a long time since I've spent this much time with anyone. I've just been doing my own thing for the last few years," John said. He gave a genuine smile, no sarcasm and no holding back, and seemed give it directly to Charlie. "All things considered, I'm glad I came. I might even come again."

"I hope so, because I've been doing some soul searching and I decided that I'm going to stay in town. I can finish fixing up the house. All it need is a fresh coat of paint… And more plates," Charlie said. John didn't seem surprised by her reveal. If anything, he might've been happy to hear it. Marla certainly seemed to be from her beaming grin.

"But what about college? You're still going to go, right?" Jessica asked. She was the only one with mixed feelings.

"Of course! It's not that far of a drive. And hey, what I save on dorm costs I can put towards the house. I'll just figure out how to break it to Aunt Jen later," Charlie said, rubbing her neck uncomfortably. That wasn't going to be a fun conversation, but she would find a way through it, and she had no doubts she could convince Jen to go along with it. She smiled a little more confidently. "It'll be fun to have a project. I could even fix up a guest room for when you came to visit."

"Good luck trying to sleep with all the bears and mimes hanging around," Carlton chimed in. Jessica rolled her eyes at him and he returned with a playful smirk before looking back at the house. That smirk dropped quickly and he subtly elbowed Lamar. "Look at the window," he whispered lowly. Lamar looked towards the nearest window and stared at the drawn curtains.

"…What am I looking at?" he asked once realizing he couldn't see anything.

"See those lights? That's him," Carlton whispered. Lamar squinted at the dots of light in the window, which from this angle looked a lot like the headlights reflecting off the glass.

"I think that's just the lights from the car."

"Look again."

"I'm staring right-." The lights suddenly disappeared behind the curtain. Lamar stared for a long moment before casually adding, "I am never stepping foot in this town again."

"You willing to put money down on that?" Carlton asked with the smirk returned, now a little more strained. Lamar wished that he could, but he had a bad feeling he would lose that bet.

In contrast, Jessica seemed to be warming up to the idea and was much less concerned. "You know, that actually doesn't sound too bad," she said. Her face fell to a sad smile. "It's still going to be weird going back. I wish we got a little more time."

"Me too, but there's always next time, right?" Charlie offered.

"Right, and we've always got tomorrow too. Speaking of which, we've got to do something big to make up for lost time. Try to get as much sleep as you can tonight and leave it to me to make the plans," Jessica said. Nobody argued with her enthusiasm and instead just got ready to leave again, mutually ready to call it a night. John lingered behind long enough to speak privately to Charlie.

"I'm glad you're sticking around. If you need any help with the house, you know where I am," he said.

"It wasn't like I was that far away," she reminded, mildly amused.

"Maybe not, but I'd like to keep you as close as I can." John seemed aware of how this came out as he blanked for a moment, Charlie slightly raising a brow at him. Then he decided to throw caution to the wind and asked, "What do you think about catching a movie this weekend? My treat, your choice."

It slightly took Charlie off-guard how sudden it felt, but part of her had been anticipating it eventually. Except unlike then, where she felt a sort of wariness towards it, now she felt a little more comfortable with it. She still wasn't entirely sure what the full extent of her feelings for John were, but she wanted to spend more time with him, so she decided to take the risk.

"Sure, I'd love to," Charlie agreed. If she thought John looked happy before, he looked positively thrilled now, and she could feel the lightest flutters in her chest as he headed to his car.

She turned back to the house and headed inside where she was warmly greeted by her brother. It was the first time in ages that things felt right, like she was getting a chance for a fresh start.


	13. Closure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read the note at the end!

Sammy was eccentric in a very human way. The more time Charlie spent with him, the more little quirks she learned about. Things such as how he compulsively shut doors behind him when entering a room, regardless if he was with her or not, and regardless of it he had been touching the door or not. Almost like it was drifting closed on its own, and never locking them.

Another thing would've been drawing. At first she assumed that the pictures had just been to show her what he saw in the fire, but when she came back from dumping Lefty, she realized he had made a whole new stack of pictures to go with them. Sometimes fitting multiple sketches on the front and back of a piece of paper. Considering that he only had three, long fingers, she found his speed and linework impressive.

Then there was the sleeping arrangements. Charlie wasn't surprised when Sammy didn't want to sleep in the master bedroom- she hadn't either- and fully expected him to sleep in her bed again. It didn't feel as weird as it would've if he was a human so she had no problem with it. They had looked through the photo album together before bed and he was still looking through it when she went to sleep.

She woke the next morning to find the closet that held his stuff opened, a large cardboard box pulled out, the toys and clothing that had been in it lined and stacked on the floor, and Sammy tightly compressed inside of the box, enwrapped in the throw blanket from the downstairs couch. Charlie didn't know what was weirder, him going through all this to sleep in a box or the fact that she hadn't heard any of it.

And regardless of how long that must've taken, Sammy woke on his own and seemed to appear downstairs before she could even finish breakfast. She wasn't sure if he even needed to sleep- that was one of the many questions she would have to ask him when she felt more comfortable being invasive- but she was beginning to get the impressive that he didn't want to be alone.

Which was fine with Charlie, as there were things that needed to be done around the house. The first step being to plan out where she was going to go from here now that she made her decision on staying. Currently she was sitting on the couch with a notebook and trying to calculate a budget.

"The semester's almost over, so I don't think I'll be able to get any of the room and board fees back even if I get my stuff out today and turn in my key. But maybe I can work something out with Aunt Jen about putting next semester's board towards the house. That's still going to be a tough sell. She might not budge." Charlie really didn't want to have that talk just yet. "…Or I could always pick up a part-time job. The house is already paid off, so I'd really just be paying for the water and electricity. I think I can handle that."

She looked to Sammy who was sprawled on the couch beside her listening. His legs were hanging over the armrest while he lazily wound his strings in between his fingers like a cat's cradle. He was still watching her though, looking up at her as he absentmindedly fiddled with these loose strings that seemed to appear and disappear at random- another thing she wanted to eventually ask him about.

"We might have a little free money to throw around. Maybe we can use that to start on the guest room?" she asked. He nodded in agreement. "…Or we could always use it on a TV." He nodded even more vigorously. "TV it is. Besides, we kind of already have a guest room. Just send someone into that one and hope they don't open the closet," Charlie said, pointing a thumb back at the master.

While Charlie was looking back in the notebook, tapping it with her pen and thinking of what needed to be addressed next, she noticed that nobody had called yet. With how insistent Jessica had been about a plan, she expected to hear from her, but glancing at the clock showed that it was already eleven thirty and there had been no word. Sammy noticed her sudden quietness and chimed attentively.

"Hmm?... Oh, I was just thinking about the guys. I sort of expected someone to call by now… In fact, I think I'll call them. See what's up." She tried to not be paranoid, but she wondered if the silence had anything to do with what they saw the night before Afton Robotics. Now she regretted not having a TV to check the news with.

Charlie handed the notebook to Sammy, grabbed her cellphone off of the side table, and quickly dialed up Jessica's number. It took a few rings before she answered.

"Hello?" Jessica sounded awake and chipper, and from the sound of voices in the background it seemed like she wasn't alone. Her pleasant tone alleviated most of Charlie's suspicions.

"Hey, Jess. Just calling to check on this plan of yours."

"Oh, Charlie! Hey!" Jessica greeted a little loudly. It almost sounded like she did it on purpose. "I had to stop by the store and get a couple of things, but I'll- _we'll_ be right over right after! If that's alright."

"Sure, I'll be here," Charlie said. She heard a familiar voice in the background. "Marla's with you?"

"…Right! She's just helping me pick something out. I'll bring her over with me once I finish up here. We'll be over soon!" Jessica said with surprising finality. Like she was desperately trying to get off the phone.

"See you then," Charlie said. She ended the call, mulling it over, and then turned back to Sammy. "So… That was weird. Jess said she was just at the store, but she sounded a little dodgy. She didn't even say what she was there to get." She thought of it a moment longer as Sammy started to write something down. "I mentioned plates last night, but I didn't actually think she'd get them. I was hoping someone would know someone who was looking to unload some."

Sammy tapped her leg and then held up the notebook. On it was scribbled a simple line: _"People pay well for scrap. Find Lefte."_

Charlie chuckled a little. "You waited until now to tell me we were sitting on a gold mine? I don't know, even if he's still out there I don't think he'll be worth much. Not enough for the hospital bills when we break our backs to move him," she joked. Sammy chimed and jotted down another message before showing it.

" _Auction?"_ Must've meant something like a yard sale.

"That… Might actually be a good idea. We just won't say where the clothes came from." A rather morbid joke; Charlie wondered if she had gone too far, but Sammy didn't react. She didn't have any idea what he thought about their father now, and her feelings on him were mixed. Or they would be if she was willing to think about them. Every time he crept up in her mind, she pushed him away with distractions.

As luck would have it, the next distraction came quickly as Charlie's phone began to ring shortly afterwards. She answered it thinking it would be Jessica calling back. "Hello?"

"Uh, hey! It's just me." But this time, it was Carlton. "Just wanted to call and give you an update about the whole Dad wrestling clowns thing."

"You've heard from him?" Charlie sat up straight in anticipation. "What did he say? Did he find Baby?"

"Sort of. It's more what I pieced together from what he didn't say," Carlton said. He lowered his voice to continue. "Apparently they're still 'investigating' over at Afton's, which means they didn't catch Baby. But considering how weird he's being, being all dodgy and having a dozen cops over there, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they did _see_ Baby. Normally by now, Dad would be second guessing all this. The fact he's not tells me that he saw her in there somewhere or on camera or something."

"I hope they're being careful. She could be quick. Especially in those empty rooms…" Charlie could just feel the danger from that comment alone. She doubted she was at risk when Baby had no idea where she lived, but a cornered cop might not be so lucky. And that was putting aside her now confused feelings about animatronics- one look at how normal Sammy acted made her wonder how much Baby really thought and felt.

"So… Take that as you will. I mean, I'm taking it as a good thing, cause if they're looking for her in there then she's not running around out here, right?"

"Right," Charlie half-agreed. It was then that she noticed voices in the background. While she could've expected his parents' voices, she heard one that she distinctly didn't expect. "Is that Marla?"

"Yes… Wait, no. She's not here… Yeah, I have to go. Talk to you later." With that, Carlton got off the phone as quickly as possible. Charlie sat there silently for a moment.

"… _Definitely buying something together_." Which she would've told them that they didn't have to do if she knew about it beforehand, but since she couldn't, she smiled to herself and awaited their arrival.

Twenty minutes passed before everyone arrived. Since Jessica, Marla, Carlton, and Lamar all got out of the same car, and John pulled up right after them, she assumed that her guess of them being out together was correct. Sammy fled for the stairs the moment he heard the cars pulling up and Charlie went to greet them.

She stepped out to find Jessica coming up the steps with a can of paint. "You bought paint?"

"Surprise! We've come to paint your house!" Jessica said with a beaming smile. "I remembered you said something about painting the house and I thought what better way to leave a lasting impression."

"Yeah, especially if we do a bad job," Carlton called from the car. He was currently helping Marla and Lamar get rollers, trays, and other painting supplies out of the back. Apparently they had thought it all through and didn't cut any corners.

"I know we didn't really discuss colors beforehand, so I just played it safe and went with moss green and off-cream," Jessica said, holding up the can she carried. "And there's plenty more in John's car."

"Guys, you don't have to do this!" Charlie said with a thankful smile. "I don't want you to have to spend your vacation fixing up my house."

"You make it sound like a chore. It's going to be fun! At least, more fun than becoming a raisin out in a canyon somewhere, looking at colorful rocks," Marla chimed in. She looked as eager as she would've been if it was her own idea, even going so far as to dress in older, bland looking clothes in case any paint got on them.

She noticed John was also dressed in well-worn work clothes when he walked over. It wasn't the typical look for him, but looked good on him. "What do you say, Charlie? Up to joining us?" he invited. His tone holding a touch of playfulness, as though he already knew her answer.

"You know I am. Ready as I'll ever be," she answered. Something definitely felt different than before their talk yesterday. She couldn't tell what exactly it was, but so far it felt alright. Different, new, she liked it.

"Ever used a pressure washer?"

"No, but I can learn."

"Deal." Even his smile seemed more welcoming, even when it was already so comfortable. She came down the steps to join them and they got right to work.

Somewhere between pressure washing and painting, Charlie and Jessica had stopped for a brief break while the cans were being opened. The thorough job had left the house cleaner than it how been in years and even peeled back some of the old paint. Though even in that state it looked better than it had when she first walked up. She could already imagine how much more lively it would look with the fresh new coat.

"Hey, I wanted to get your opinion on something. I've been thinking of making a change and I wanted to run it by you before I told the others," Jessica began.

Charlie turned to her with interest. "Sure, what's on your mind?" she asked.

"What do you think… About me transferring colleges and us going to school together?" Jessica asked hesitantly. "Because I'm thinking that I want to stick around, but I don't want to completely violate your personal space. So, good idea or too weird?"

"No, I think that's great!" Charlie said eagerly. This should've been the surprise because the news was like a gift. Out of everyone, Jessica was the one she had become closest to, and she had been dreading the thought of losing contact once again. She restrained herself enough to add, "If you're really sure that's what you want. You'd be giving up a lot moving from the city to a small town like this."

"Maybe not as much as you'd think," Jessica assured with a half-smile. "Don't get me wrong, I love New York and I've loved living there, but I don't think I made the same connections there. It's not a big city verses small town thing, it's just being around you guys again and remembering what it was like to be part of tight knit group. I never really made close friends after I left."

"You? I don't believe it," Charlie half-teased.

"It's true. I think I was always afraid that I was going to get close to someone and then have to move again, so I just got used to keeping this arm's length distance around me. Maybe it's time for a change." Jessica seemed slightly unsure, though not about her decision to return permanently to this old town. Charlie put a supportive arm around her shoulders.

"I think it's going to be great, but I might be a little biased," she said. This got a more confident smile out of Jessica. Before Charlie could continue, they were interrupted by voices.

"Gah! _Lamar_!"

"Hey, I told you it was going to spill. That was all on you."

"It's all on me, all right!"

They looked over to see Marla and Lamar juggling a paint can. Marla passing it off to look at a large, green spill down her front and Lamar looking both apologetic and like he was suppressing laughter.

"What were you saying about being part of a group?" Charlie playfully asked. "We should probably get over there and help them."

"These are new-ish shoes. I'm waiting until they set the paint down before I go over there," Jessica remarked. Charlie gave her a mock unimpressed look, which she scoffed at. "Well, if you _insist_."

They returned to the others' side to continue the task at hand, a newfound lightness between them. Charlie supposed she needed to get used to it, but she couldn't say she was disappointed in even the slightest.

* * *

"I'm home!" Carlton called into the house. Not that he expected a response; only his father's car was home and if he was in the basement he wouldn't be hearing anything. Deciding to take this opportunity to catch him while he could, Carlton went to the basement door and found it unlocked. "Dad? You here?" he called as he headed down the stairs.

Clay wasn't in the basement, but he was definitely in the house if the door was unlocked. That or the lock was broken, something that only passed Carlton's mind right now. He wandered into the center of the room, hands in his pockets, and looked around with mild curiosity. Wondering if anything had changed since the last time he had been down here. Specifically, if there was any new additions to the basement.

His eyes gravitated to the same place where Lefty had been stored, and his mouth dried out as he noticed the tarp was back and covering something laying on the floor by the back wall.

"No way…" Carlton mumbled. He walked towards the covered form with chills prickling the back of his neck. "He couldn't of brought Lefty back here. Mom's going to flip out if that thing's back in the basement."

There was still some doubt as he approached the form. Taking a deep breath, Carlton yanked off the tarp in one smooth motion.

It _was_ Lefty, but it looked nothing like how he and his friends had left it. It had been destroyed.

The reason the animatronic was laying on the floor was because it was in pieces. Its chest cavity had been opened and hollowed out, its arms and once-stuck legs detached and piled together, missing its eyes, and having its head completely pulled apart. It was more a mound of suit parts than a bear. Like something had ripped it apart and stole all the metal inside.

Carlton was in so much shock staring at it that he barely processed his father coming downstairs until he was right beside him. "This is exactly why I lock the basement. I leave it open for two minutes and you find your way down here," Clay remarked wearily. Though he didn't sound upset. At least, not with his son.

"Yeah, I was just… I guess you really wanted to make sure it didn't get up and walk around again, huh?" Carlton asked. He looked back to see Clay with a grim expression. "Okay, don't like that look. What's going on?"

"You not getting involved in this, Carlton," Clay said firmly. He took up the tarp and threw it back over Lefty, covering it once again.

"Come on, Dad. I'm not a kid anymore. I think I can handle it."

"You already risked your life going down into Afton Robotics without telling me or anyone else. I can't trust that if I tell you something, you won't put yourself in danger trying to pursue it."

Something in Carlton flared at that. He narrowed his eyes slightly but kept his voice even. "Well, maybe we wouldn't have gone down there looking for answers if everyone wasn't always hiding things. It's one thing to not tell me details about a case- I get that legally you can't do that- but you didn't say _anything_ about a guy kidnapping kids at Freddy's who went off the radar, and you _still_ haven't told me if you found Baby."

Clay turned on him quickly and said just as briskly, "You're not going after Baby."

"What am I, stupid?! There's no way I'm going after Baby, Dad! But I'd like to know if she's running around out there! There- There could be a killer clown and a child snatcher walking around in town in broad daylight, nobody knows about them, nobody believes they exist, and I'm just supposed to pretend like I don't want to know what's going on?!"

There was a long moment of silence between them. Clay seemed startled by his son's outburst while Carlton held his ground and waited for an outcome. He mostly expected his father to tell him to leave, in which case he wasn't sure how much more of a fight he would put up. He was surprised when it was his father who caved.

"You're right," Clay said.

" _I am_?" Carlton thought. He tried to hide his surprise.

"You were the one who came to me and told me about finding Baby. Anyone else might've been afraid to say anything, especially in this town. That's part of the reason there are so many unresolved cases left going cold on the shelves. Everyone wants to forget, but by forgetting what happened we opened the door for creatures like Baby and whoever started the fire to get out into the general public."

"So, Baby's still out there…" Carlton said quieter.

"We're still searching the facility for any sign of her, but I won't lie to you, it's looking like she found her way out… And unfortunately she isn't alone." He exhaled warily as he remembered those glowing eyes and the ruthless shock it gave him. It wasn't too much for him to recover from, but against an unsuspecting citizen or even a child it could be disastrous. "…We found that Freddy on the side of the road outside of Afton's. It looks as if something tore it apart and harvested its endoskeleton. We think it might've been Baby."

"I guess that makes sense. She looked like she could use the parts…" Carlton tried not to sound as uneasy as he felt. Even if he suspected that Baby was free, hearing it for sure now made him just as uncomfortable as having Left in the house. He then noticed exactly what his father said. "When you said she's not alone, did you mean that doll thing or?"

"There's a second animatronic with her. I couldn't get much of a look at it without its suit, but it is very aggressive." Clayton looked to him with that dead-serious look in his eyes. "I'm counting on you to keep yourself safe. If you see Baby or the other animatronic, don't go anywhere near them, even if they look like they're deactivated. In the meantime, we're going to begin searching more of the buildings that we know are connected with Afton's. There's not too many places she can hide."

"You're acting like I'm going to grab the guys and go robot hunting tonight. We wouldn't have gone to Afton's if we thought there was anything dangerous in there," Carlton said honestly.

"I know, but I don't want you to get in a position where you somehow find yourself with one of them and feel like you have to step in and stop them. I don't want you or any of your friends risking your lives."

Carlton gave his father an uneasy, if somewhat exasperated smile. "How exactly am I going to get in that position?"

"…I'd rather prepare for the worst." It wasn't a very confident answer, though Clay's sureness in it made Carlton all the more disquieted. He looked back towards the tarp that hid the remains of Lefty.

If Baby had found the bear that quickly after they dumped it, then she must've been close. Or worse, she could've been watching them the entire time. There had been more than once that he thought he heard something but assumed it was a distant car or one of the others moving Lefty around. A dangerous animatronic could've been watching them the entire time and waiting for them to get distracted.

No more late nights, he swore to himself. No going after Circus Baby.

* * *

About a week had passed since the painting of the house, the perceived ending of the reunion between Charlie and her friends, and things had begun to settle down.

Charlie had managed to buy off a little time with Aunt Jen by telling her that she was considering moving off campus and that she would be temporarily staying at the old house. At first Jen was adamantly against it, but after she mentioned Jessica moving back to Hurricane and floated the possibility of renting an apartment with her, her aunt loosened up a bit more. That was the best Charlie could do for now.

Speaking of Jessica, she had returned to New York with plans to get transferred and moved back permanently before the next semester began. She and Charlie still talked on a daily basis. Similarly with Marla, who had a little less free time with community college, but enough time to frequently invite Charlie out or over to her house.

She wasn't entirely sure what Lamar and Carlton had been up to for the last few days. Marla mentioned both in passing- Lamar applying for something and things being tense at Carlton's house- but didn't get the exact details on either. Though she had heard from the latter himself about Clay finding Lefty and the circumstances surrounding it. It was troubling to say the least, and there was still no sign of Circus Baby.

Then there was John. He was the one who helped her move her stuff out of her dorm and to the house, and they met up that weekend as planned. Charlie had been a little nervous leading up to it, but it turned out better than she expected. Nothing overly romantic, no long pauses or tension, just them seeing a movie, talking about the movie over a short dinner, and her walking out of it feeling surprisingly good.

If that was what dating was supposed to feel like, perhaps she was ready for it, and she couldn't think of a better person to do so with than John. She even told Sammy the details when she got home.

Sammy hadn't changed much in the last week that she had lived with him. They had settled into a bit of a routine between them, but nothing shocking had come to the forefront in his behavior. Save that he was utterly fixated with the television and that he frequently sought Charlie's attention when she was home. He liked board games, he could read, and he would listen. Their little family was coming together.

But there had been one thing left unfinished. One topic they never discussed, the elephant in the room, their father. Charlie tried her hardest not to think of him and Sammy showed little interest in bringing him up, so she assumed that it would just continue being this thing they tried to avoid at all cost. At least, until she found out from Marla that the police were no longer stationed at the burned down pizzeria.

The sun had set only an hour before when Charlie pulled up to the charred remains of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. She knew it was dangerous to be out at dark when Baby was still unaccounted for, but she wasn't too concerned, especially since she wasn't alone. She made sure that the area was quiet before she opened the backseat door. "It's all clear. You can come out."

Sammy slid out from under a throw blanket and drifted out into the parking lot. His gaze fell on the building and he stared with that blank smile on his face. She had picked up that this was his default look, both his resting face and the one he went to when he wanted to hide an immediate reaction. Though she could tell from his slow movements that he was bothered. Call it twin intuition, but she swore she felt his sorrow.

She followed after him and stood alongside him to look at the remains of the pizzeria. It had been partially blocked by caution signs and police tape, but anyone could've walked straight in. What held her back was wanting to stay with Sammy, so she got what view she could from here. It hardly looked like the stylized pizzeria it had been the first day she came, and not even the sign remained.

Charlie took a deep breath before admitting, "I wish I could've been able to talk to Dad one last time." Sammy's eyes flickered to her questioningly. "I don't even know what I'd say, I just feel like there's so much I needed to get off my chest. So much I wish I could tell him. Now I'm never going to get that chance," she said, wrapping her arms around herself.

Sammy looked towards the building for a moment before gesturing towards the building. A sweeping gesture with both arms, like coaxing her to go to the burned down pizzeria. She looked between him and it.

"I guess I could still say something. It wouldn't be much different than speaking to a grave," Charlie said. "…Do you think he'll hear me?"

Sammy gave an expressive shrug and she looked back ahead. She was torn on what to do, unsure if this was going to bring her any form of closure or just reopen the still fresh wound. He noticed her hesitance and reached for her arm, gently pulled it free of her hold, and took her hand in his. He gave an assuring squeeze.

This was just enough. She gave him a small smile before slowly walking closer to the building, him accompanying her. They stop just at the barrier of warning tape and after a moment to get her thoughts together, Charlie took a deep breath and spoke.

"Dad. It's me, Charlie. I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm going to say my peace," she began.

At first she called into the building, but then her voice fell until she was speaking as quietly as if he was standing right in front of her.

"It's hard coming to terms with what you did. You abandoned me, Mom, and Aunt Jen. You hid from everyone for years and let us think you were gone. Then when you finally came back, you trapped Sammy in that suit and tried to burn him. It's hard to swallow."

Sammy squeezed her hand again and his head fell.

"…But I think what I'm most upset about is that you never gave me the chance to know you, or to help you. I know that's selfish, but maybe there could've been a better way. You didn't give me the chance to make my own decisions, you just sent me a letter and thought it would make up for everything. It didn't, Dad. I wanted to know you. I wanted to be loved by you… And now there's no going back. You're really gone."

Charlie took a deep breath to ease the tight pangs in her chest.

"…But I know what you were trying to do. You weren't trying to hurt us, you were trying to fix what happened at the diner. I can't agree with what you did to Sammy, but you trapping William… As cold as it sounds, after all he's done I don't feel any sympathy for him. If you stopped him from hurting other children, then you're a hero. That was worth some of the pain we had to go through. Not all of it, but some."

Sammy's other hand came to lay on hers as he turned more towards her and further from the former pizzeria. His head was lowered and she could faintly see a glossiness on his stripes. She hoped that this was giving him some amount of closure too. She squeezed his hand again, petting it with her thumb.

"I still love you, Dad. That's why this hurts as much as it does. I can still remember the better times back when we were still a family. Days when I used to play in your workshop while you worked, listening to you tinker and wondering what you were building next. Nights when you would tuck me into bed or let me sleep with you when the dark was too dark. I still love you… We still love you?" Sammy nodded beside her. "Yeah, _we_ still love you. Even if things had to go so wrong, we still love you, Dad… And we're sorry you're gone."

It was a strange moment. That sorrowful feeling Charlie had earlier was much stronger and the mood outside the graveside was dismal, but there was also something lighter to it. A sort of relief to it. Like lancing a wound and letting all the poison out so it could finally heal for good. She believed that this might've been what closure truly felt like.

"I think I feel a little better. Ready to go home?" Charlie said. Sammy nodded in agreement and eagerly led her back towards the car, ready to get away from the remains once again. They had stayed long enough, there wasn't anything left for them here. Not when the house was waiting for their return.

Now they could get back to moving on. If anything good had come from this, it was that it had brought them together again. Only time would tell how this would go from here and Charlie was ready to face whatever was next. This time she wouldn't be alone.

**_End of Book One_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I decided to break the story into books to go with the trilogy theming. Because of AO3's layout, I'm going to have it as a separate story, but I'm going to link it to this one as a series, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. And because it's technically the next chapter to this story, it shouldn't take too long to get up either. ^-^ Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed so far!


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